In a New Light
by InTheWild
Summary: Katara has been at war her whole life and has begun to define herself by it. Who will she be in times of peace and can she learn to live without having to fight? A between-the-scenes story of Katara's journey of self-discovery during and after the war. Starts during The Southern Raiders and goes post-war. (Zutara)
1. Confrontations

**In a New Light**

 **Chapter 1 - Confrontations**

-/\/\/\/\/\/\\-

It had taken several hours for Appa to fly them all from the Western Air Temple to their new cliffside campsite on the coast of the Earth Kingdom. Katara couldn't believe that the Fire Nation had separated her family again. Sokka and Zuko had just freed her father from prison two days ago and she already said goodbye again. She was quiet the whole trip over, worrying how far her dad and the rag-tag group of allies could have gotten. Haru would have been able to earthbend a tunnel long enough to get them a safe distance away from Azula, but where would they go after that? There was the airship Sokka and Zuko had stolen from the Boiling Rock, but there was no way to know whether Azula had gotten to it first, she could have blown it up or taken it for herself.

These thoughts were swirling around Katara's head all afternoon, accompanied by a huge stone of dread in her gut. When they landed here half an hour ago she said nothing and immediately got working on unpacking Appa's saddle and setting up her tent.

"Katara, I'm starving! Can't we make dinner before we set up camp? We've been travelling all day!" Sokka whined at her in a light tone while Appa groaned and flopped down on to his stomach in agreement with Sokka's request for food.

Katara huffed angrily in response and continued putting stakes in the ground. How is he in such a normal mood after everything that happened today? Azula's surprise attack is just another reminder that the war is always going on all around them. The Fire Nation kills their mother, separates them from their father for a _third_ time, and all her dear brother can think about is food!

"Whew, okay someone's got their panties in a twist. Suki, you're a girl! You can make us dinner, right?" Sokka exclaimed happily.

Suki lightly hit him across the shoulder with a small smile, "Come on Sokka, we're past this, just cause I'm a girl doesn't mean I can cook. Honestly, I'm really terrible at it."

Katara started to tune out their conversation, she didn't really care who made dinner, she was sure it would get done eventually, and she wasn't hungry anyway. After she threw the cloth over the poles to finish her tent she immediately started setting up Suki's tent next to hers. She needed to keep her hands and mind busy to help keep her anger and worry in check. And to stop Sokka from nagging her about dinner.

In the escalating argument about who should be cooking, she heard Zuko's calm voice, "I can make dinner if you guys want. I can really only boil water for rice and tea, but it looks like that's all there really is anyway."

"Only rice!? No meat!? What is this day coming to!?" Sokka shouted as he flopped onto the ground in mock despair.

"Come on Sokka, life isn't all about meat! In fact, my life isn't about meat at all!" Aang said cheerfully. "Rice and tea sound great Zuko!"

Katara clenched her fists and had to steel herself for a moment. She was surprised and how angry she was getting. She hadn't really expected Aang to be affected by leaving the air temple so suddenly, but Sokka was acting like it was no big deal that their dad was gone again and they had no idea when, or if, they would ever see him again. And Zuko was the calmest of them all, it was like he didn't care that his sister had tried to kill him, and almost killed them all in the process - he didn't care that his family, his _whole country_ for that matter, were the reason that her family was ripped apart _again_.

She almost wished she hadn't caught him earlier today when he fell off the airship after fighting Azula. Katara would have left the saving-Zuko's-life to someone else entirely if he didn't push her out of the way of those falling rocks this morning. At the time she thought the brief graze of his hand on her breast when he tackled her was an accident, a byproduct of him saving her, but now that her anger was getting the best of her she thought it might have been intentional. _No_ , she thought as she took a deep breath through her nose and relaxed her hands, _I wouldn't have let him fall_. She doesn't trust him, but she wouldn't just let him to die either.

The wind started to pick up and was threatening to blow over the tents that she was still putting together. She was able to convince Toph to earthbend a wall on the coastal side of each tent so that they would be protected from the harsh sea winds. Even they have been traveling together for a while now, Katara still usually had to make a big scene to get Toph to help with any of the group's chores, but tonight she had been relatively easy to convince. Katara wondered if the earthbender could feel the anger radiating off Katara and just didn't bother arguing. _Or maybe she gets freaked out by the wind?_ Katara thought off handedly. If she wasn't in such a sour mood she probably would have said something to that effect just to see if she could get a rise out of Toph.

They finished with the tents right as Zuko finished cooking the rice, and they joined the rest of the group around the newly made fire pit.

"Katara look! I helped Zuko make the tea using firebending!" Aang said, handing her a nice warm cup as she sat down.

"That's great Aang," her tone was a little clipped, but she gave him a small smile to let him know she wasn't mad at him. He had been training with Zuko for almost two weeks now, but he was still just as excited as he was the very first time he made fire. Even though she was upset about everything that had happened today she found it was really difficult to be mad at Aang. She admired his ability to find excitement and fun in almost every situation – something she was struggling more and more with lately.

"Wow camping. It really seems like old times again doesn't it?" Aang said to the group as they all settled in to their food.

"If you really want it to be like old times I could, ah, chase you around awhile, try to capture you," Zuko said casually as he broke apart a piece of bread.

The rest of the group laughed easily, but Katara's eyes narrowed and her body stiffened slightly at his ability to talk about the past history so nonchalantly. "Ha, ha," she said sarcastically, to herself.

Sokka raised his cup and toasted, "To Zuko! Who knew all those times he tried to snuff us out, today, he'd be our hero!"

"Hear hear!" the rest of the group cried in unison as Toph and Aang jokingly elbowed Zuko's arms.

Zuko gave a small smile, "I'm touched, I don't deserve this."

It was the sincerity of his humbleness that was the last straw for Katara, she couldn't just sit there and listen to them praise him anymore. Didn't they remember how he betrayed them before? Or the fact that today wouldn't have even happened if they didn't let him join their group?

"Yeah, no kidding," she barely registered everyone's shocked faces as she stood and walked away. She didn't want to look at them all anymore anyway.

"What's with her?" asked Sokka.

"I wish I knew," Zuko stood to follow her as she walked toward the farther cliff's edge.

As she left she felt almost glad that he was following her. She began organizing everything she wanted to say in her head. She wanted to make him feel even a semblance of the pain she had been feeling today. To let him know that this stupid war isn't just about him or his stupid honor or his stupid destiny. His actions, and the actions of his people, have consequences.

She had only been sitting a few moments before she heard him come up behind her. "This isn't fair, everyone else seems to trust me now, what is it with you?" Zuko said exasperated.

"Oh, everyone trusts you now!?" she responded sarcastically, "I was the first person to trust you, remember! Back in Ba Sing Se, and you turned around and betrayed me – betrayed all of us!"

He grimaced in realization, "What can I do to make it up to you?" The shame written across his face gave Katara some satisfaction, but it wasn't enough to quell her anger. He still didn't really get it, he didn't understand the depth of what the Fire Nation had done to her.

"You really wanna know?" she asked rhetorically as she walked toward him, "You could reconquer Ba Sing Se in the name of the Earth King! Or I know-" she was right up in his face now and he flinched away from her instinctively, "you could bring my mother back!" She practically spit the last statement at him.

Guilt and disbelief colored his face, it was exactly the reaction she had hoped to get out of him, but she still didn't feel any better. She nudged her shoulder forcefully against his as she stormed past him back toward her tent. He stood frozen behind her and this time didn't make the effort to follow.

She lay flat on her back staring blankly at the fabric of the tent above her, her anger had subsided now that she was alone, and it had been replaced with grating nothingness.

She was vaguely aware of the sound of Suki leaving the tent next to Katara's – probably trying to sneak over and spend the night with Sokka. Katara wondered absentmindedly why Suki was even bothering to be sneaky, it's not like there was any adults around to judge her for wanting to sleep next to her boyfriend. Katara sighed and rolled over on to her side to try and get some sleep. She couldn't stop thinking about her dad and how everything would be okay if he was there with them.

\- \/\ -

When she woke up the next morning she was still full of that empty nothing feeling and she considered just lying there for the rest of the day. Ultimately, she decided against it, she knew if she could just make herself busy that eventually she'd start feeling better. She could start making breakfast and the maybe ask Aang if he wanted to do a little waterbending today. They hadn't trained together in a while and she thought it could help soothe her to do something physical. More than anything she just needed to make a plan for herself, everything always got better once she had some organization to her day.

She immediately frowned when she saw a very tired looking Zuko waiting for her outside of her tent. Ugh she didn't want to deal with him today, couldn't he just let her be mad at him in peace?

"You look terrible," she said as she passed by him, to grab her comb out of the bag next to him. She was hoping to end the interaction there and ignore him for the rest of the day, but her mild insult didn't seem to phase him.

"I waited out here all night," he said as he rubbed his eyes. _So what_ , she thought, _is that supposed to make me feel bad for you?_

"What do you want?"

"I know who killed your mother-" _What!?_ She turned to face him in shock, _you can't just say something like that so suddenly!_ "- and I'm going to help you find him."

She stared at him incredulously. How did he suddenly get this information, and why does he care to help her? He had nothing to gain from this mission other than her potential forgiveness, he didn't actually care about avenging her mother at all. But did that matter? This is an opportunity to face the man who tore her family apart, could she really turn that down just because she was wary of Zuko's motivations? Suddenly she remembered what he had said in the crystal catacombs in Ba Sing Se after she told him that the Fire Nation had taken her mother away from her, _"You and I have that in common."_ Maybe what she had said to him last night had gotten to him more than just making him feel guilty. It was possible that he already had understood her grief and had just not understood why it had surfaced again yesterday, and now he wanted to help her feel better. This was not what she intended when she yelled at him, she was hoping to make him angry enough to leave her alone for the rest of their time as allies – not offer to take her on some monumental quest.

"Uh..Katara?" Zuko said hesitantly. She suddenly realized she was just staring at him opened mouthed.

"How," she was surprised at how calm her voice sounded coming from her lips, "how do you know who he is?"

"I, uh, I talked to Sokka last night, and," he was awkwardly rubbing his hands together and fumbling his words. A few moments ago, he was confident in his statements about her mother's killer, but now he seemed almost embarrassed, like she was going to yell at him again for asking her brother about their family's history. "He told me what happened to her, and uh, he described the flags they have, and I um, I know that group of raiders, and I thought we could go and confront them - if you wanted to, that is." He sort of blurted out that last bit really fast.

She had never seen him so uncomfortable in a social situation before, it was weird and kind of hard to watch, and she realized she had barely ever had a conversation with him that didn't involve at least one of them antagonizing the other. She wasn't really sure how to talk to him when he was fumbling like this.

She decided to just ignore his awkwardness, "Yes, yes I want to. Let's go," she said confidently and then turned again, grabbed her bag, handed it to Zuko and started walking toward Appa. He paused for a moment in surprise at her sudden agreeability, but then followed right behind her.

Aang was feeding Appa some hay while Sokka sat nearby fiddling with a flower lei. Katara mentally rolled her eyes at the flower necklace – looks like Suki successfully snuck into Sokka's tent last night after all. Katara made a mental note to make fun of their couple-y shenanigans some other time, right now she was too focused on the task at hand.

"I need to borrow Appa," she said once she was close enough for Aang to hear.

"Why, is it your turn to take a little field trip with Zuko?" he said jokingly.

She responded seriously, "Yes, it is."

"Oh," he turned around surprised, and Katara thought she saw a flicker of hurt cross over his face, "what's going on?"

"We're going to find the man who took my mother from me," she tried to say it as matter-of-factly as she could, she knew if she said it with too much anger and conviction they would fight her about it. Sokka saw right through her and stood up to join Aang next to Appa.

"Sokka told me the story of what happened, I know who did it, and I know how to find him," Zuko said in response to Aang's still shocked face. He explained more confidently than he had a few minutes ago to Katara, it sounded like he was now just as sure about the journey as she was.

"Um, and what exactly do you think this will accomplish?" Aang asked civilly. Katara was afraid this would happen, he was using his Avatar-keeper-of-the-peace voice; a tone she had heard him use it so many times before and she had always agreed with him in those past situations. But not this time, he didn't understand what it was like to lost a parent, he would never know why she had to do this.

She scoffed, "I knew you wouldn't understand," and she turned to walk away.

"Wait, stop," Aang moved toward her, "I do understand! You're feeling unbelievable pain and rage; how do you think I felt about the sandbenders when they stole Appa – how do you think I felt about the Fire Nation when I found out about what happened to my people- "

"She needs this Aang," Zuko interrupted.

Katara remembered how Aang had reacted when he found Monk Gyatso's skeleton, and when he found out which sandbender had taken Appa – both times he had involuntarily gone in to the Avatar state, and she had been so scared that he really might kill that sandbender. Both times she had held him to calm him down, to show him that there were still people there who loved him and cared for him and they could get through it all together. Logically, she knew this is what he was trying to do now, that he didn't want her to feel pain just as much as she had wanted to take away his pain in those moments, but she couldn't just let all these feelings go now. She was overflowing with rage and disdain, and she surprisingly found that she agreed with Zuko - she knows she needs to confront this man.

"This is about getting closure, and justice," Zuko continued.

"I don't think so, I think it's about getting revenge," Aang replied to him.

Revenge. Katara had been trying to avoid even thinking that word since Zuko had suggested this whole plan just ten minutes ago. She knew what direct revenge would mean and she wasn't sure if she wanted to know if she was capable of that. But she had to find out, she had to do _something_.

"Fine! Maybe it is!" She snapped back at him, "Maybe that's what I need, maybe that's what he deserves." Her voice was unwavering, low and cold. She could sense Aang and Sokka stiffen behind her as the realized how serious she really was.

"Katara...you sound like Jet," Aang said.

Ugh, Jet.

"It's not the same," she said with confidence, finally turning around to face them all again, "Jet attacked the innocent, this man – he's a monster."

"Katara, she was my mother too," Sokka said, finally speaking up, "but I think Aang might be right."

"Then you didn't love her the way I did!" she snapped back at him.

"Katara..." the look on Sokka's face made Katara immediately regret saying it, but it was too late now, she made her point clear and she wasn't going to back down. She looked away to help shield herself from her own guilt.

"The monks used to say that revenge is like a two-headed rat viper, while you're watching your enemy go down, you're being poisoned yourself," Aang added philosophically.

He might be right in theory, but he didn't understand how much Katara's emotions were overwhelming her and how real it all feels to her right now. She didn't care if revenge did poison her as well, as long as that man got taken down first.

"That's cute," Zuko said with sarcasm, "but this isn't air temple pre-school, it's the real world."

Katara was surprised how similar Zuko's words were to her own thoughts, she began to think that her suspicions from earlier, that he really did understand, were even more true. The confidence in his words added to her own confidence as well.

"Now that I know he's out there, now that I know we can find him, I feel like I have no choice," this was the crux of it all, the crucial bit that Aang and Sokka weren't understanding. She couldn't go back now, she just couldn't, she's too invested in knowing who this man is, knowing what type of person could destroy in such a terrible way.

"Katara, you do have a choice," Aang said, almost pleading now, "forgiveness."

Zuko took a small step forward, "That's the same as doing nothing." He sounded like he was restraining anger now. Again, Katara was surprised by his passion and commitment to this cause, was he really this intent on earning her forgiveness, or was he hoping for some sort of closure about his own mother?

"No, it's not, it's easy to do nothing. It's hard to forgive," Aang said firmly.

"It's not just hard. It's impossible," Katara stated with finality as she turned around and walked away. She was headed back toward the cliffside where she had yelled at Zuko just last night, but after a moment she realized that he had followed after her. They stopped just past her tent, and she turned around to face him.

When she looked up at him she saw that his eyes were set hard on her face, and she knew that they were already on the same page.

"We're still going," she said firmly.

He gave a slight nod and held her gaze, "we'll leave just after dark. Try to act normally until then."

"Good," Katara said, still not breaking the eye contact. There was a slight pause where they both just stared at each other for a moment. His gaze was piercing and all encompassing, it was like all he was seeing was her. It was an odd moment of understanding, just from the way he was looking at her with such certainty she knew she could rely on him with this and that he was going to stand by her. Yesterday she had wanted to push him off the cliff and now they were making silent pacts to go on revenge crusades. She still wasn't sure if she could fully trust him after everything, but she was grateful that he had been so understanding all day, and hopeful that he wasn't going to let her down again.

After the moment passed he gave another slight nod, dropped the sack of things in front of her tent and went off to presumably continue Aang's firebending training.

\- \/\ -

The day was painfully slow. Katara was struggling to act normal with her thoughts consumed with the anticipation of leaving that night. She made a simple breakfast for everyone, and ate in silence while everyone else chatted on around her. She had been planning on doing some waterbending with Aang, but she was still frustrated with him and was afraid that if she spent too much time around him she would give away their plan to leave once everyone was asleep. So instead she spent most of the day making excuses to be by herself, she needed to go pick fruit for dinner, or she wanted to work on some bending forms on her own. She left lunch up to everyone else, they could figure out how to cook one meal by themselves – besides they'd have to get used to it anyway because she was going to be gone for at least a few days.

Now that she thought about it, she didn't even know exactly where they were going. She had no idea how long they were going to be gone, and she hadn't packed up any of her sleeping things, her sleeping mat and some spare underclothes were all still just sitting in her tent. And if they were going to be travelling far they'd need some food for the journey, and some food for Appa as well. The sun was finally getting lower and she was still out in the small forest near their camp looking for some food for the group's dinner. She had found a pear-apple grove and had picked a fair few for the group, but decided to keep most of them for the journey. She could just tell everyone else that there wasn't much to find in the woods and hide the ones she had at the bottom of her sack.

The sun was almost set when she got back to camp and everyone was gathered around the firepit to start eating dinner – it looked like Zuko had made a simple rice dish again. No one seemed to notice her as she slipped inside to quickly roll up her sleeping mat, grab the extra underclothes and some blankets, and shove them in to the sack from this morning that also had her comb and some extra gloves and socks. She considered bringing her winter parka as well, but she figured that a Fire Nation raider wouldn't be anywhere where it was still snowing in the middle of the summer. And it had water tribe written all over it. She threw the pear-apples she had collected into the sack with everything else and decided that it would have to be enough.

As she was finishing tying up the sack she could hear everyone talking as they finished their dinner.

"Wow Zuko, that training today was really tough. Who knew that roundhouse kick move you always do was so tiring?" Aang said.

"Well, that's why I've been telling you to do so many hot squats, so your kicks will be stronger," Zuko responded.

"Yeah but now my legs AND my arms are tired! That move uses a ton of upper body strength too!" Aang groaned.

"Then get some good rest and we can do some less intense training tomorrow," Zuko said nonchalantly.

Had he been drilling Aang extra hard today so that he'd go to sleep earlier? The sun was just behind the horizon now, and it would be better if they could leave as soon as possible. Katara's stomach grumbled and she realized she had only really eaten breakfast today. She was about to head out of her tent to grab some food when she heard Sokka ask about her.

"Has anyone seen Katara? She went out looking for more food hours ago," he asked, concerned.

"I don't know, but I'm worried about her. She was so upset this morning," Aang said.

"She's over in her tent," Toph piped up, "she probably just didn't want to eat with you guys cause you won't let her go and kill that murderer."

Katara heard everyone gasp at Toph's bluntness. Katara felt somewhat shocked too; did Toph really think shewas just going to kill him so casually... She still didn't know what she wanted to do, she just knew she would be sure once she saw him.

"What, I'm just saying you guys can't really tell her what to do, especially when this guy killed her mom," Toph said.

There was a small silence before Aang spoke up again, this time a little quieter.

"I should go check on her, I know she's really hurting and I want to make sure she's okay."

"I don't know if that's a good idea," Zuko said back in a firm voice, "I think she probably just needs some time to herself for a while. We should all just cool off until tomorrow."

There was another small pause. Katara felt a twang of guilt at what Aang had said. She knew that he really did care about her and was just trying his best to make her feel better, he was just going about it all wrong. Zuko was right too, she wanted to avoid talking to Aang for now, and she wanted everyone to go to sleep so that they could sneak off on Appa.

After a moment she heard everyone shift a bit and say their goodnights to each other. Katara noticed that she didn't hear Suki's tent open next to hers, and Katara figured she'd just gone straight in to Sokka's tent. _I guess she's not trying to be sneaky anymore_.

A few minutes later she heard very faint footsteps outside her tent, so quiet that she wasn't even sure she had heard them until Zuko opened the fabric of the tent and came inside.

"I saved some food for you, but you should probably wait until we're on Appa to eat it," he whispered as he handed her a small covered bowl of rice. He also had a small bundle of fabric in his other hand.

"Thanks," Katara said, matching his whispered tone, glad that he had thought to bring her something, she was quite hungry. "I picked some fruit for us as well, but it'll probably only last us a day or so. And I couldn't really find any food for Appa either."

"That's okay, there's still a lot of the hay that Aang was feeding him earlier, I was going to bundle some of that up to take with us too. And I grabbed a bag of rice and some tea leaves while I was making dinner, so we should be okay on food for a while too," he said very businesslike.

Wow. She was impressed that he seemed to have thought through the whole plan quite a lot. She was now left feeling unprepared.

Not wanting to let on about her under-preparedness, she decided to ask about the bundle of fabric under his arm. "What is all that?" she pointed to his right hand.

He looked down as if he had forgotten he was still holding something. "Oh, I uh, wasn't sure what other clothes you had, and I figured you probably shouldn't be wearing your Water Tribe outfit, and I uh, had an extra black shirt and face covering," he was doing that word fumbling thing again, like he was worried he was going to accidentally offend her by telling her not to wear her traditional blue wrap, "and I uh, thought that it could be useful to you?" He said the last bit like it was a question, asking her if he had done the right thing in bringing it for her.

She was quite glad that she would now have something more discreet to wear, even if he was being weird about it.

"What about you? It probably won't be good to be decked out in Fire Nation red either," she pointed out.

He cleared his throat and gained some confidence back now that she hadn't yelled at him, "I have one for me too, I was going to go get it and start packing up Appa while you changed."

Katara nodded and handed him the now full sack of items and he passed her the bundle of clothes, "good, I'll meet you out there in a few minutes then?"

He nodded in return and silently slipped back out of the tent. Their conversations were all so awkward, they were stiff and to the point. Neither of them really knows how to talk to each other without getting angry at the other, so each interaction today has taken on a strange businesslike tone. Katara supposed this was an okay thing though, she had resigned herself to being his ally, and clear, practical communication was better than none at all.

She looked at the clothes Zuko had given her and there was actually quite a bit to them. The shirt was long and was probably going to be way too big on her, but he had given her a small black sash too that work well as a belt around her waist. She took off her blue dress, replaced it with the shirt and tied it tightly so that it wouldn't billow around too much. The neckline of the shirt was loose like a cowl and she realized that this is what he had meant by a face covering, she could easily pull this up to cover her mouth and could use the excess loose fabric to tie it tighter around her neck so it wouldn't slip down. She tied up her hair and tucked it in to the back of the cowl to test how it would all fit with only her eyes showing. With the fabric covering her nose and mouth she could smell a faint scent of jasmine in it and she suddenly felt a little strange realizing these were Zuko's clothes. Logically she knew they were his - he had just handed them to her - but she hadn't thought about that he had probably worn them before. It was strange, she had never worn someone else's clothes before. But it all seemed to fit well enough, and with the shirt being long enough to cover most of her loose navy-blue pants, her outfit didn't look Water Tribe at all.

She snuck out of her tent and found Zuko bent down next to Appa, rummaging through the sack of things, likely looking for things to pull out to put directly on to Appa's saddle. He was dressed almost identically to Katara, just with his traditional dark red pants under the black shirt instead of her blue.

He looked up when she came over and nodded slightly, "good, looks like it fits you well enough."

She wasn't really sure if he was complimenting her or just stating a fact so she just sort of nodded in response and adjusted the neck of the shirt a bit, it kept tickling her jawbone and wafting hints of jasmine around her nose. She was making sure her hair was tied tightly enough when she heard Aang and Sokka come up behind them.

 _So much for being sneaky_ , she thought.

"So, you were just going to take Appa anyway?" Aang asked incredulously.

"Yes."

"It's okay," Aang responded, almost too quickly, "because I forgive you…That give you any ideas!?" He sounded almost cheerful.

She didn't want to have this conversation again, she just wanted to go. "Don't try and stop us."

"I wasn't planning to," Aang's brow furrowed, "this is a journey you need to take, you need to face this man."

Katara was a little surprised that Aang wasn't trying to stop her anymore, maybe he did understand more than she thought he did. The whole time he had just been trying to do what was best for her. She nodded her thanks and climbed up to sit on Appa's head.

"But when you do," Aang continued, "please don't choose revenge. Let your anger out, then, let it go. Forgive him."

"Ookaay, we'll be sure to do that Guru Goody-goody," Zuko responded sarcastically before hopping up on to Appa's saddle behind her. Katara had to stop herself from letting out a small snorting laugh. She agreed with Zuko's sentiment, but she didn't want to belittle Aang for doing what he thought was right.

"Thanks for understanding," she said down to him before facing forward and instructing Appa to fly off.

\- \/\ -

After a few minutes flying away from the Earth Kingdom coast she realized she had no idea where they were heading.

"Okay Mr. Guy-With-The-Plan, where are we going?" she called back to Zuko.

He ignored her lame attempt at a mock nick-name, "we need to find a fire navy communication tower. All the navy's movements are coordinated by messenger hawk, and every tower has to be up to date on where everyone is deployed."

"So, once we find the communication tower, we bust in and take the information we need," Katara continued his train of thought.

"Not exactly, we need to be stealthy and make sure no one spots us, otherwise, they'll warn the Southern Raiders long before we reach them."

She nodded, "okay, so where do we start looking for a communications tower?"

He had scooted up toward the front of the saddle so that he was right behind her when he spoke, "there are lots of towers scattered in the seas around the Fire Nation, I can't remember all of their exact locations, but I'm sure if we just head west we'll find one within a few hours."

She nodded again. A few hours normally didn't feel long to Katara, especially when riding on Appa – she usually loved the wind in her hair, the smell of the sea, the feel of the clouds, and the moon almost full above her – but tonight she knew it was going to feel agonizingly long. She just wanted to take some action, to _do something_ to make it feel like their mission had really begun.

Zuko rummaged around in their shared pack for a moment before nudging Katara's arm and handing over the small bowl of rice he had saved for her from earlier, she had forgotten about it after she changed into her stealthy clothes.

"Do you want me to take over flying Appa so you can eat? I think I have a general idea where one of the towers might be, so it might be easier if I'm guiding him anyway," he asked politely.

Katara didn't want to give over Appa's reins, being in control of the bison was making her feel in charge of the whole quest and was giving her something to focus on. But she hadn't eaten much really at all today and decided that eating was more important right now than focusing.

She turned around to face him and took the bowl from him. It was hotter than it was earlier, he must have just been warming it in his hands for her and Katara was mildly surprised by his thoughtfulness. "Thanks," she said quietly.

Zuko nodded in return and climbed over the front of Appa's saddle as Katara climbed over the other way to sit behind him. she was going to scooch all the way to the far end but as she moved a few inches away she shivered and realized that Zuko had been warming himself and by extension, the air around him. Even though it was summertime and they were now in Fire Nation territory, flying on Appa at night was quite cool. She stayed up at the front of the saddle to share some of his warmth and eat her food in silence while they flew.

\- \/\ -

They reached the communication tower in a little under an hour which Katara was grateful for. She felt like she hadn't done anything truly productive in weeks. All that time at the Western Air Temple she had just been helping take care of every while they all recuperated after the invasion attempt. She was glad to help in any way she could, but cooking and supervising and healing the occasional accidental firebending burns just didn't compare to the pure thrill of sneaking around and waterbending, _really waterbending_.

Zuko landed Appa at the base of the tower, just behind some tall cliffs, and they both hopped down silently. Katara took some of the bundled hay off the saddle and gave it to Appa, she wanted him to be as well fed as possible for however long the rest of their journey was going to be.

There was no real plan on exactly how they would sneak in, and as far as Katara was concerned, she wasn't going to be bothered with making one. She knew the whole idea of this mission was a little reckless and she figured they may as well just dive right into it. She looked up at Zuko once they had slid off Appa and his silent stare urged her to believe he was on the same page. They both nodded, pulled their mouth coverings up, and set off toward the tower.

They worked well together. Zuko followed every move she made without question or hesitation. When she ran toward the shore and jumped, he jumped with her before she had even bent the water beneath her to ice and pushed the sea up below them to lift them up to the first level of the tower. And he took the lead in turn when he knew he'd be more useful. He knew what corners to stop and hide behind and how long to wait before running inside before the guards would notice them. They were both quiet and careful, using each other as guides and following each other through body language alone. It was exhilarating. And effective. Zuko seemed to know the general layout of the base and they were able to make their way up to the central office rather quickly.

They were sat above the main office in an air vent and a soldier, who Katara assumed to be the head of communications at this station, was sitting at the desk writing some sort of memo. They both paused for a moment while she considered the best way to create a distraction. She decided just bend some of the ink out of its tray and on to the memo that the soldier was writing. The soldier seemed confused at how the ink had moved so quickly, but not suspicious, and got up to go clean up.

Katara and Zuko hopped down from their hiding place and began to search the records of the room. There were scrolls in shelves all over place and they were organized in some weird system that Katara had never seen before, everything had long strings of numbers attached to it and she couldn't make any sense of it. Zuko didn't seem to notice her hesitation in where to start and just started pulling some scrolls from one specific cubby.

"How do you know where to look? Everything just has random number sequences all over it," she asked somewhat shocked.

He paused for a second before answering, "well… I _was_ raised to eventually command armies, so I had to learn about the Navy's basic decimal organization system," he said it almost as if it was supposed to be obvious that he would know all about Fire Navy operations. "Anyway, it's not in these scrolls here, but it should be somewhere on this shelf."

Right. She often forgot that he was meant to be prince to the Fire Nation and that meant that he would have been groomed to learn all sorts of military and noble responsibilities. Honestly, she usually forgot that he had any sort of life before he showed up in her village all those months ago looking for Aang. She knew that he had been banished - she had seen the wanted posters for the "banished Prince Zuko" - but she had never really thought about what that had meant. She wondered what it must be like to be treated as the prince of your nation your whole life to only have it taken away from you one day. She dismissed the thoughts for now as Zuko was still looking the scrolls on the shelf and she realized she was just awkwardly standing there for a moment. Not that he had seemed to notice anyway, he was very focused on searching.

"Okay, Southern Raiders…," Zuko whispered as he pulled out a single scroll from one of the cubbies. He laid it down on the desk and unfurled it. "Bam!" he said as he pointed to a spot on the map now laid before them, "on patrol near Whaletail Island."

Katara's eyes narrowed as she felt a mixture of excitement and dread. This was it, she was really going to find him. Zuko's eyes were on her, "Whaletail Island, here we come," she stated confidently.

They were able to sneak out the same way they had come in. They barely encountered any guards on their way back. The Fire Navy must not be too concerned with security at their communications towers, _I guess they don't expect a couple of teenagers to come in just to look at their information on one of the group of raiders,_ Katara thought to herself after they passed by an area that had had three guards earlier that night.

"I'll fly," Katara said to Zuko when they reached Appa, "I know where Whaletail Island is. You should get some sleep, it'll take us tonight and most of the day tomorrow to get there."

Zuko opened his mouth for a moment as if he was going to give some sort of retort back to her, but he closed his mouth again and just nodded to her before climbing into the saddle behind her. He probably knew where Whaletail island was too and could fly them there just as easily as she could and had wanted to tell her that, but something must have stopped him.

"Yip yip," she called to Appa and the rose up in the air. She set her eyes on the horizon and didn't look away as the night eventually turned to day around her; she kept focused and flew on for what seemed like endless hours, thinking about the eyes of the man who had killed her mother, eyes she'd see again very soon.

\- \/\ -

Zuko didn't wake up until the sun was setting the next day, Katara was exhausted from being up all night and all day, her fingers clenched cold around the reins, but she didn't falter in steering Appa straight toward their destination.

"You should get some rest," Zuko said propping himself up to sit, "we'll be there in a few hours. You'll need all your strength."

"Oh, don't you worry about my strength," she said, turning her head slightly toward him, "I have plenty. I'm not the helpless little girl I was when they came."

She had been replaying the memories of that day over and over in her head all day. It was a horrible cycle of anger, guilt and regret, she felt like she was buzzing with rage. There was no better motivation to keep going. She normally didn't like to talk about what had happened, she hadn't really ever spoken about it with anyone, she never even told Aang the details of it. Not because she didn't want him to know - she was sure he would have been great at comforting her - but because it was too painful for her to even think about, let alone voice out loud. But with the memories tumbling over themselves in her mind for hours on end, she felt she just had to let it out. Maybe if they were out in the world they wouldn't be in her head anymore.

She was so young, only 8 years old when they came. Black snow fell lightly to the ground, she was in awe before she remembered the stories the tribe had told about the black snow and what it meant. She was scared. She told Sokka she was going to find their mom and she ran off toward their igloo in the center of the village. Her mom was there and for half a second Katara was relieved, but there was a Fire Nation soldier in her home with them, with her mother crouched on the floor, looking more terrified than Katara thought was possible. She had only seen her scared once, when Katara fell into a nearby frozen lake.

But when her mother spoke she was cool and collected, and for a moment Katara felt safe again – her mother was going to fix this and make it all right again, and then the man would leave. Katara shivered when the man turned to her and growled at her to listen to her mother and leave, his eyes bore into her soul and created a pit of dread in her stomach that was now all too familiar. Because she listened. She listened to her mother, and she listened to the man, both of whom told her to leave, even though all she wanted was to stay and be held. She ran, she ran as fast as she could to get to her dad.

"But we were too late, when we got there, the man was gone, and so was she," Katara finished, and she curled herself around her knees.

"Your mother was a brave woman," Zuko said with sincerity.

She touched her hand to her mother's necklace and felt tears begin to well in her eyes. He had offered her no physical comfort or any apologies to meant to console her, but his words did make her feel just the slightest bit better. "I know," Katara said with a small break in her voice.

She steeled herself for a moment before turning back to look at Zuko, "I think I will rest for a bit." He held her gaze and nodded, and that weird thing happened again where it was as if all his eyes were seeing was her, his whole focus was directed to holding eye contact with her. Before she had felt an understanding from him in that moment, but now she mostly just felt self-conscious, she knew she must look terribly exhausted, and she didn't want his pity.

He continued to hold her gaze as they traded positions on Appa, "stop staring at me," she said a little more forcefully than she meant to.

He immediately dropped his gaze and mumbled a "sorry" before turning forward to steer Appa. Katara let out a small sigh and curled up on the saddle, she relaxed almost instantly and fell asleep.

\- \/\ -

It must have only been a few hours before Zuko's voice jolted her awake again.

"There!" he called to her as he lowered the telescope from his good eye, "see those sea-raven flags?" he tossed the telescope over his shoulder to her, and she saw it too, "it's the Southern Raiders."

 _Finally._ "Let's do this."

Zuko guided Appa down toward the water and Katara joined him up on Appa's head. She stood so that she could waterbend an air bubble around them all so they could breathe while Appa swam stealthily toward the Southern Raiders' ship. When they got near the hull she closed her eyes, felt the force of the sea around her and used it to bend up a huge wave to crash over the ship. Zuko flew Appa up out of the water and landed him on deck. Katara slid down easily and ran towards the remaining guard, her eyes burning from both the sting of the seawater and her own internal rage. She punched a jet of water at the last guard and launched off the ship and into the ocean with the others. She pulled some more water from below the ship and sleeved it around her arms as they ran into the main cabin.

Her heart rate was rising as they ran down the hallway together, this was it, she was finally going to face him. She could feel the moon full above them, even though she couldn't see it anymore; it made her blood pulse faster through her veins. She was finally going to end this.

Zuko disarmed a guard as he jumped out from behind a door and Katara paused briefly as he locked the guard inside, before they both started running full speed toward the end of the hall again. "This is it, Katara," Zuko said once they reached the door, "are you ready to face him?"

She pulled down her mask and let out a growl as she threw the sleeves of water at the door with full force. The door slammed open and Zuko immediately jumped in front of her to block the captains firebending blasts. His instincts and their teamwork were paying off again.

After dodging a fireball that Zuko had shot at his feet, the captain backed down for a moment and addressed them, "who are you?" His voice was weaselly and distinct.

"You don't remember her" Zuko motioned toward Katara with his head, "you will soon, trust me!" He shot another fireblast at him and he moved to retaliate but Katara caught him too quickly. She had felt the captain's blood pulsing quickly when they entered the room and she caused it to twist and turn in his arm before he could bend any more fire.

His eyes went wide in terror as she bloodbent him toward the floor, "What's, ah... happening... to me...!?" he rasped through strained breaths before collapsing fully on to the wood beneath him, twitching slightly. She felt Zuko abandon his bending stance next to her and saw the stunned expression on his face as he turned toward her. A twinge of pride surged through her that she had surprised him with her power. And she felt powerful, it felt good to finally have this man who had ruined her life now completely at her mercy before him. She almost reveled in it.

Zuko quickly regained his composure and turned back to the ship captain, "think back! Think back to your last raid on the Southern Water Tribe!" he practically spat the words at him.

"I don't know what you're talking about! Please I don't know!" he stuttered from his awkward position.

Zuko dropped to the floor and leaned next to the captain's face, "Don't lie! You look her in the eye and tell me you don't remember what you did!" he pointed aggressively at Katara. It was taking all her effort to keep the captain pinned to the ground and she was grateful that Zuko was doing all the talking, he was much more aggressive with his voice than she thought she could be right now.

She scooped her hands in an upward motion, pulling on his veins to make him sit up and face her. His face was one of pure shock and horror. And his eyes stared up at hers with nothing else in them, they were flat and pleading, and then the horror was Katara's instead.

"It's not him," she spoke it as soon as she realized it. The pit of dread in her chest was heavier than ever and she felt herself begin to shake. The man collapsed forward as she clapped her hands together and loosened her stance to release her hold on him. "He's not the man…"

"What?, What do you mean he's not?" Zuko asked incredulously, "he's the leader of the Southern Raiders, he has to be the guy!"

Disappointment was cool in her veins. She didn't have a response left in her anymore. Her hands were beginning to shake uncontrollably so she clenched them tightly and walked out the door. She only made it just beyond the door frame before she collapsed against the wall and held her knees close to her chest. She forced herself to take deep breaths, _It's not that bad. Just because he isn't the man doesn't mean he's innocent. He must still have countless crimes, he deserves what I did to him…_ She wasn't sure she believed that though. After Hama, she had sworn to herself that she would never bloodbend again, and not a minute ago she was rejoicing in the power it gave her. She should feel disgusted with herself, but instead she just felt disappointment and more lingering anger.

Zuko was still interrogating the ship captain in the room behind her but she forced herself not to listen. She didn't want to hear about this anymore. She just wanted to feel nothing again.

"Katara!" Zuko called as he walked through the doorway before realizing she was on the floor just next to him. There was a brief flash of concern across his face before he spoke, "come on, I know exactly where he is now, let's go." He held his hand out to her to help her up but she ignored it and pushed off the floor herself.

They walked silently back to Appa and Katara let Zuko take the reins without any discussion this time. She sat at the back of the saddle and did her best to ignore the chill of the wind around her.

"So, did you like… bend that guys blood?" Zuko asked after a few minutes of flying.

"Yes," she snapped back. Now Zuko, Prince of bad decisions and questionable morals, is going to berate her on how she handled the situation? She wasn't going to deal with him right now.

Zuko stiffened at her harsh tone and paused to take a deep breath. He turned around fully to face her, his expression no longer hiding his concern, "are you…okay?" he asked cautiously.

"It's not your job to make sure I'm okay Zuko! I'm fine and I don't need your pity, or some kind of lecture about 'doing the right thing' okay!?" she yelled back at him.

"Agh!" he threw his hands up in the air exasperated and turned back around. He exhaled sharply through his nose and spoke again quietly, "I wasn't going to lecture you, and I don't pity you in the slightest, Katara."

They rode the rest of the way in silence and she eventually felt into a restless sleep.

\- \/\ -

They reached their new destination around noon the next day, Zuko had explained that they were going to a village on a small island in the southwest of the Fire Nation, and that the man she was looking for, Yon Rha, would be living there with his mother. Katara had mostly just grunted and nodded at Zuko while he told her and suggested ideas of how to get Yon Rha on his own to confront him. She felt somewhat guilty for snapping at Zuko yesterday, she didn't want to admit it, but all his actions did suggest that he was only trying to help her. She considered apologizing to him but she just didn't have it in her. It was taking all her energy to focus on what she was going to say when she finally confronted Yon Rha.

There was a small marketplace in the middle of the village and that's where they waited for him to show up. Katara and Zuko crouched behind a window in an old abandoned shop in the middle of the market. It was only about fifteen minutes before a tall man with shoulder length gray hair went to the fruit stand across from their hiding spot. Katara felt her body freeze in place as soon as she saw him. He looked a little older and a little slower, but his stature and the way he moved, she was already sure that this was him.

They bided their time and watched until he finished buying his goods before they followed him down the path he was taking. Stepping out from their hiding spot in the abandoned shop, Katara could smell the rain before it came. She took a deep breath and sighed, the inevitability of the rain and the events to come were calming her. She knew it would finally be over, and she knew she would be in control. This time they were in the daylight, and there was no full moon, and she was almost grateful not to have the opportunity to bloodbend. Just her, that man, and the rain.

Katara and Zuko followed Yon Rha a fair bit down the path before running up ahead of him and hiding - this time behind a rock just off the pathway. The rain finally started to pour down, it was thick and heavy and Katara felt the power of it rise inside her. Zuko ducked out from behind the rock for a moment to check Yon Rha's distance from them, and turned back to Katara quickly, "stay here a second." She nodded back at him, slightly confused, but trusting his instincts. He ran out, still crouching, to the other side of the path, tore a thread from the hem of his pants and tied it to a smaller rock before running back toward their hiding rock and tying the other end of the thread. He was planning to trip him, it would be the perfect way to catch him off guard, as they were pretty sure he had been close to spotting them a few times earlier.

Once Yon Rha was close enough Zuko threw a pebble at a nearby bush causing Yon Rha to turn around quickly and punch a blast of fire that direction, "nobody sneaks up on me without getting burned!" he growled.

His voice was piercing, it cut right through Katara and for a split second she was 8 years old and paralyzed. She quickly shook it off and watched as he picked up his fruit, stepped forward, caught his foot on the thread Zuko had set up, and fell flat on his face.

Zuko jumped out of their hiding place and shot a blast of fire near Yon Rha's hands, "we weren't behind the bush," Zuko said keeping his bending posture and stepping forward, "and I wouldn't try firebending again!"

"Whoever you are, take my money, take whatever you want, I'll cooperate," he looked so small and weak, scrambling in the wet ground that Katara almost wanted to laugh.

She stepped forward and pulled the cowl down from her mouth, "do you know who I am?" she asked fiercely.

"No…I'm not sure," Yon Rha said with some hesitation.

"Oh, you better remember me like your life depends on it!" Her anger was rising now, "why don't you take a closer look!"

He paused for a moment and his eyes opened even wider, "yes… yes, I remember you now. You're the little Water Tribe girl…" Katara paused for a moment while Yon Rha briefly told her how her mother had said that she was the last waterbender, and then he killed her because of it.

Katara's heart was pounding in her chest, her blood pumping so loud she could barely hear the rain drumming around her, "she lied to you! She was protecting the last waterbender!"

"What? Who?" he asked incredulously.

Katara inhaled, felt the rain as it fell from the sky, circled her arms around in front of her and threw them straight out to her sides, stopping each droplet of water so that they hovered around their faces, "ME!"

The rain that continued to fall above them stopped to form a dome around the three of them, Zuko pulled down his face mask and looked up in awe. It was as if she was controlling the storm, even if just in a thirty-foot radius.

Katara circled her arms again and froze the droplets of water into hundreds of daggers of ice, pulled her arms over her head and shot them all toward Yon Rha's face. She saw his expression turn from shock to mild fear as he threw his arms up to cover his face, and she stopped the daggers mere inches from his skin. This man, this monster in front of her, he fought for nothing, he may have fought for the Fire Nation, but he didn't believe in it, he was barely even fighting for his own life – he had given up in front of them the moment he tripped and fell over. No remorse, no fear, no longing to live or die, he was pathetic. She dropped her bending stance and let the water wash limply over him.

Yon Rha crawled onto his hands and knees in front of her and begged, "I did a bad thing, I know I did, and you deserve revenge, so why don't you take my mother? That would be fair!" there was almost a smile on his face.

She looked down before speaking, her anger still raging, "I always wondered what kind of person could do such a thing, but now that I see you, I think I understand. There's just nothing inside you, nothing at all. You're pathetic and sad and empty!"

"P-please, sp-pare me" he mumbled feebly.

"But as much as I hate you," she paused, "I just can't do it." She quickly blinked away tears. She took one last look at Yon Rha's almost smug, smiling face and walked away.

After a moment she felt Zuko turn to follow her as well. The rain was still falling hard around her but she didn't bother bending it away, it felt right, to have the rain bombard her while her emotions racked through her body. The further and further she got away from Yon Rha the more out of control she felt. At first only her hands were shaking but by the time she reached the clearing where they left Appa her whole upper body was trembling and she had to concentrate hard on her breathing. Crossing the clearing she started frantically bending the water off her forehead and away from her face, flinging it behind her – the sting of it in her eyes had begun to irritate her to no end.

Zuko was grunting behind her and spoke up after a moment, "Uh, Katara, you keep bending that right in to my face, and they're kind of shar- "

"Aagh! I'm sorry!? Is my waterbending inconvenient for you!?" she yelled at him, dripping with sarcasm, "that doesn't really seem like my problem, considering it's your fault that I'm here anyway!" She stepped right up to him and shoved his chest with the tip of her fingers, he stumbled back slightly and looked down at her shocked and frightened. "Oh, 'Katara I know who killed your mother,' 'Katara you need revenge,' 'Katara forgive me,' 'Katara come with me and kill this man, that'll be fun and constructive! and then when you can't do it, you'll feel like shit!'" She had closed the space between them again and was hitting him in the chest with her forearms as she spoke, punching as hard as she could.

"Ow, ow, stop it!" he yelled back at her, his hands palm forward near his head in surrender.

But she didn't let up, "How could you think this was a good idea!?" her breaths were coming in short bursts, "how – gasp – could – gasp – I – gasp – let – gasp – you – gasp – convince – gasp – me – gasp – this – gasp – was – gasp – the – gasp – right – gasp – thing –" her arms were now folded feebly between their bodies and her words became less and less coherent, each one sounding more and more like a panicked squeal as she sobbed into his chest.

"Katara… you need to breathe," worry and confusion coated his voice, "try and take deep breaths in and out." She continued hyperventilating, and Zuko tentatively placed his palms flat on her upper back. "Just try and match your breathing to mine," he said as he took a deep breath in. On the exhale he slowly moved his hands down her back, hoping his movements wouldn't cause her to start pummeling him again. When he inhaled again he moved his hands back up toward her shoulder blades in the hopes that if she couldn't match his breathing then maybe she could match the rhythm he was making on her back.

His hands were warm, making her realize just how cold she was. She felt like a tidal wave, her emotions crashing everywhere at once, unable to decide how to feel and therefore trying to feel everything at once. She only vaguely heard Zuko's consoling voice trying to calm her down, but the rhythm of his chest rising and falling against her arms and cheek allowed her heart to slow down a bit and she found that she was slowly beginning to breathe normally again.

With each inhale and exhale, getting steadier as she went, her array of emotions fell away from her until she felt nothing at all. Suddenly she realized she wasn't crying or gasping anymore and her body felt tired and bruised. She was entirely still, but Zuko's hands were still running smoothly up and down her back coaxing her to breathe. She had forgotten he was even there, he was only a thing to lean her body against. Looking up to meet his gaze she saw that same intensely-focused look in his face, he was searching her eyes for that easy understanding he had found there previously, but she knew she wasn't returning it, she felt lifeless. She didn't know how, she didn't know how to feel anything other than physical sensation – her face swollen from tears, her body clammy and frail from the rain, and Zuko's too warm hands still pressed on her back. She shifted slightly to get out of their awkward embrace, his hands dropped immediately. He opened his mouth as if to ask her something, but closed it again after thinking better of it.

She turned around and made her way over to climb on to Appa. She wanted to get away from this place and think about anything other than the day Yon Rha took her mother's life, or this day, where she almost became like him. She climbed in to Appa's saddle mechanically and laid down in the back, curling in to herself. Zuko followed her up cautiously and sat up on Appa's head. The rain was still falling fiercely and water kept getting in his eyes. He turned back and saw Katara laying on her side, eyes open, just staring blankly ahead. He paused for a moment then grabbed a blanket out of their pack and crawled over to drape it across her.

"I, uh, I don't think the storm is going to let up any time soon, so, uh, we should probably just look around one of the nearby islands for some shelter and then fly back to meet up with everyone else tomorrow…" Zuko said, searching her eyes for any kind of recognition. After a moment she nodded blankly at him. He nodded back and whispered an "okay" before heading back to Appa's head and flying them up in to the air.

Katara felt like a heavy hollow shell. The rain was torturous on her body flying so fast through the storm, but she couldn't will herself to do anything about it. She just stared ahead not really focusing on anything, just watching the storm clouds and horizon slowly shift and change beyond the silhouette of Zuko steering Appa. He had been quiet all day, and he hadn't done anything to stop her barrage of fists and yelling while she was freaking out. Maybe she had been misunderstanding his intentions since he joined the group, maybe he really did want to play his part in ending the war, and maybe earning her forgiveness was also about rebuilding who he wanted to be. _Well, maybe not all that…but it's possible._

-/\/\/\/\/\/\\-

* * *

 **A/N: Wow 11,721 words. Thank you so much for reading if you did! This is my first time writing fic and I'm happy with how it's turning out so far, but thoughts and comments are greatly appreciated! This first chapter turned out to be waaay longer than I was expecting and hopefully the coming ones won't be quite so long.**

 **This first chapter is pretty heavy too and I plan to have some more light fluffy stuff too, Katara isn't always going to be so angry all the time. And Zuko won't be so level-headed either.**

 **As an fyi I do want to try and keep this as canon compliant as possible for the entirety of the OG show, sooo there is going to be some Kataang in this fic as I do think Katara would have some complicated feelings about Aang that she would be conflicted about. It's ultimately a Zutara fic but Katara is the main focus so there has to be a little of Aang in there too. Hopefully it'll still be a fun read for you though, I'm already having so much fun writing it.**

 **Thanks again for reading and I'll hopefully have the next (possibly) shorter chapter up soon!**

 **(edited 11/25/18 for formatting stuff)**


	2. A Sense of Normalcy

**In a New Light**

 **Chapter 2 – A Sense of Normalcy**

-/\/\/\/\/\/\\-

Zuko flew Appa north for only about half an hour before diving lower to look for shelter. The storm was still raging around them and lightning was beginning to brew in the clouds just above them. There was so much electricity in the air that Katara's hair was beginning to flare out around her face. She was still curled around herself at the back of Appa's saddle, but she was becoming more lucid as she heard the static crackling through the sky.

Rain and fog obscured most of their view, but as they descended further from the clouds Katara could make out a large volcano in front of them. She sat up stiffly and the blanket that was wrapped around her fell to her shoulders. "Can we land here?" It was the first time she had spoken since her meltdown; her voice was raw and her tone was flat.

Zuko straightened, surprised that she had said something, "uh, yeah we can try. A lot of the volcanos in this region will have caves around their bases formed from the last time they erupted. We can look out for one of those to stay in for the night."

Appa growled in agreement beneath them. Katara felt a small pang of guilt; Appa had barely had any time to rest since they set off almost three days ago, he needed a night on the ground as much as they did.

They circled around the base of the volcano for a few minutes, there didn't seem to be any towns nearby and all the rocks were scooped into odd smooth shapes, like water that was turned to stone. This volcano must have erupted relatively recently, maybe within the last few years. Not too much later Zuko spotted an indent in the rock and veered closer to it, it was a large cave, tall enough to comfortably fit Appa but not deep enough to suggest that any creatures lived further within.

They landed smoothly at the cave opening and Appa immediately let out a loud groan and rolled over on to his side, tossing Katara, Zuko, and all their things onto the cave floor. "Well I guess now we don't have to unpack," Zuko grumbled to himself. Katara might have laughed if she wasn't so drained. She touched the ground where she had fallen with mild curiosity – it was soft, it was still earth but it was almost squishy.

Zuko had begun taking their pack and sleeping mats a little further in to their new shelter and Katara followed, watching blankly as he set down the two mats across from each other and made a small firepit between them. He shivered slightly and held his hands out toward the fire her had just lit. He was completely soaked from the rain, and she realized she was too. She looked down at her dripping clothes and moved her hands downward to bend the water out of her clothes, streaming the water behind her out of the cave and back out into the storm. Zuko was watching her with curiosity, she realized he had probably never seen her bend the water out of anything before.

"Stand up," she motioned to him to rise. He stood cautiously and she repeated her earlier movements to bend the water out of his clothes and his hair, and threw it out in to the storm as well. His eyes were wide with fascination as he lightly patted his forearms and then his hair, assessing their dryness.

"Thanks," he said and she nodded blankly in return. She turned to dry Appa as well, then walked over to the cave entrance. The rain was still falling steadily and there was a loud crack as the first bolt of lightning streaked across the sky. She yelped and jumped slightly; the sound and sight of the lightning immediately made her think of the last time she had seen it, when Azula had shot Aang down. She shivered and pushed the thought from her mind, she could only handle so many difficult memories right now, she needed to focus on doing something and regain some sense of self. She ran her finger tips across the rain like it was a curtain, pulling it in to her hand as she went. With a large ball of water gathered in her palm she swirled it between her hands and walked back toward Zuko and the firepit.

He had set up a pot on top of the fire and was pulling the bag of rice and the pear-apples from their pack. Katara took the water in her hands and streamed it into the pot. "I'll cook the rice," she said to him as he was about to pour the bag in to the water.

"Are you sure?" he asked hesitantly. She nodded back with an expression she hoped came off as determination. She didn't know how to explain to him that being productive would help her feel more normal. His eyes met hers and he seemed content with her answer. He got up and set the remaining bundle of hay next to Appa's head. Appa was now soundly asleep, but would no doubt happily eat all his hay when he woke up.

Katara stirred the boiling water and focused all her energy on bending it. After fully rolling out their sleeping mats beside the fire, Zuko sat near her and began slicing some pear-apples with a long dagger than he had pulled from his belt. When he was done he divided the pieces into two portions and put them into bowls, setting one down next to Katara. The rice was done a few minutes later and she did the same, divided it in to two and set his portion into his bowl next to him. They sat around the fire and ate in a surprisingly comfortable silence.

When they finished eating Katara lightly doused the dishes with water and placed them back in to the pack. "We should probably get some sleep," Zuko said it almost like a question. Even though it was only early evening now, he was right, they would need to get some sleep for the journey back tomorrow. Her body was exhausted but she was worried whether she would be able to get her mind to sleep. But she agreed anyway and laid down on her sleeping mat. She heard Zuko shifting around to get comfortable on his mat a few feet behind her and eventually heard his breathing even out as he fell asleep. She stared out toward the cave opening watching the rain fall and the sky occasionally light up until her body overpowered her mind and she fell asleep as well.

\- \/\ -

Katara was eight years old standing inside her childhood home while her mother cowered in fear from Yon Rha who stood impossibly tall before her. "Take me instead!" her mother cried out. Yon Rha raised his hands and growled, "oh I'll take you both!" but it was not his voice that said it - suddenly Katara was the one wearing the Fire Navy outfit and it was Yon Rha cowering before her on his knees. Her hands were high above her head holding a single dagger made of ice and she felt her hatred drive her arms downward to gash open Yon Rha's throat. "Katara, NO!" her mother's voice bellowed from behind as Yon Rha fell limply on to his side. Katara turned to her, staring in horror at the blood painted across her hands, her mother's eyes were shocked and disgusted. Thunder boomed outside the igloo and lightning struck the center of her home, causing and explosion of snow and soot, jolting Katara awake with a pained gasp.

She sat upright breathily heavily with her hand clutching her mother's necklace around her throat, tears stinging familiarly in her eyes. "What, what… Katara?" she heard Zuko sit up off to her left, she could barely make out his shape in the dim lighting now that the fire had gone out. Her breath evened slightly as she remembered her surroundings. "Are you okay?" Zuko asked as he lit a flame in his hand.

She gasped again when she saw him, he had taken his shirt off when he went to sleep and his upper chest had a crisscross pattern of deep purple bruises across it. "Oh, oh my god," she looked down at her hands and half expected to see the slick crimson painted across her palms again, like her dream, "I did that to you, didn't I – when I hit you earlier?" She vaguely remembered how she had thrown her fists and forearms at him with all her strength - she hadn't thought about it at all at the time - she didn't realize how strong she really was.

"It's fine," he mumbled back to her, turning to go back to sleep, wincing slightly, and extinguishing the fire he was holding, "they're just some bruises alright?"

"No, I'm going to heal you!" she stood quickly and bent some water from her water skin next to her sleeping mat. Why wasn't he angrier with her? She was angry enough herself and she wasn't even the one who had been bruised.

She crawled awkwardly over to where she thought he was. "Zuko… Zuko, would you just light another fire? I can't see anything!"

"Katara, it's fine! I bruise easily anyway!" he said, lighting a flame in his hand again. She gave a small yelp, she had been much closer to him than she thought and his voice was louder than she expected.

"It is not fine! I did that to you and I'm going to fix it, now lay down and let me heal you!" She pointed forcefully at the sleeping mat beneath him, balancing the orb of water in her other hand. He held her gaze and after a moment, rolled his eyes and sighed, shooting the flame at the firepit to light up the whole cave.

"Good. Now lie back," she instructed. He huffed in resignation and did as she said. Katara scooted closer to him and sat on her knees next to his chest, the bruises looked even deeper in the light. She spread the water over both of her hands; as the water began to glow she placed her palms flat on his chest, starting near his collarbone and moving down slowly.

"This must have hurt when I was hitting you," she said quietly, aware of his eyes on her, "why didn't you stop me?"

He shrugged apathetically, "you were yelling at me, and I deserved it."

"What?" she stopped moving her hands for a second, "Zuko… everything I said earlier… I meant it about me, not about you. You were just there… It was easier to be mad at you than to be mad at myself."

He didn't say anything and just stared at her as she continued healing him. The bruises were fading quickly, he was right, they really weren't that bad, the purple just contrasted harshly against his pale skin, making it look nastier than it really was.

"But, what you said was true, I did make you come on this trip," he said somewhat defiantly. He must have really been convinced he had made another mistake.

She snorted and rolled her eyes, "you didn't make me do anything! Sure, you suggested we come here, but I wanted to steal Appa and go behind Aang's back, and I decided to bloodbend that guy - you didn't make me do that!" It was all very funny to her now, a smile spread viciously across her face and she started to laugh.

"But, but – wha, why are you laughing?" he asked confused.

"I had a full-on panic attack earlier and a terrible nightmare just now, and now I'm the one comforting _you_ and healing _you_ ," she said pointing at herself and then at him, still laughing, "it's just so funny!"

"Uh, okay Katara, I think I'm fully healed now, maybe we should go back to sleep?" he said warily.

But she was still laughing, "here I am, in a cave, with the prince of the Fire Nation, and I offered to heal him – again! Ahaha, this must just be my life now, this is normal!" She threw her arms up in the air and her laughter got more and more maniacal.

Zuko was sitting up now facing her, "uh, I mean, I don't really know you all that well I guess, but this – "he gestured at her hysterical shaking, "– does not seem normal to me."

She stopped suddenly and her face changed to one of surprise, her eyes wide, "you're right! You don't know me that well - but here I am, feeling guilty about giving you a little bruise!" and she divulged into laughter again, "that makes it even funnier!"

"Ookaay, you definitely need to sleep. I'm going to put out the fire, why don't you just lie down here and I'll sleep over on your sleeping mat, okay?" he said, nudging her toward his mat as he stood.

Katara's laughter subdued somewhat and she laid down mechanically. Once her head hit the mat she felt exhaustion overwhelm her and she fell soundly asleep.

\- \/\ -

The next morning, she awoke just as Zuko had finished packing up Appa. Sleeping had helped clear her head and she was feeling more like herself than she had in the last few days. She was looking forward to flying back to their camp and seeing everyone else again. She wasn't ready to explain everything that had happened yet, but she desperately wanted to get back to a routine with a sense of normalcy.

"Hey," Zuko saw that she had gotten up, "how are – "

"I'm fine!" she said holding up a hand to silence him. She did _not_ want to talk to him about whatever came over her last night. Feeling guilty about her tone towards him, she paused for a moment before saying, "sorry… sorry for being crazy last night."

He stared at her a moment contemplating what to say, then just gave her a half-nod-half-shrug before rolling up her sleeping mat and throwing it into Appa's saddle with everything else.

"We're heading back today, right?" Katara asked casually.

"Right," he confirmed.

"I'd like to steer. It's only about half a day East of here right?" she said as she hopped up on to Appa's head.

"Okay, but I'll take over after we reach everyone else," he joined her in climbing into Appa's saddle, "I was thinking we should stay somewhere closer to the Fire Nation for when the comet comes and that we could stay on Ember Island."

She paused for a second to instruct Appa to take off, then asked, "What's Ember Island?"

"Oh right, it's like a vacation island for nobles and tourists of the Fire Nation, my father has a house there that'll have more than enough room for all of us."

Katara scoffed, "you want us to stay at the Fire Lord's vacation home _in_ the Fire Nation?

Zuko rubbed the back of his neck, "yeah well he never goes there, and Aang needs somewhere secluded to practice firebending where he can't light a bunch of trees on fire."

She contemplated for a moment; it wasn't a bad idea, they would have to be careful, but they had hidden out in the Fire Nation for months already, if Zuko was right and the Fire Lord really never went there, then it shouldn't be much of a difference – and it would be nice to have somewhere semi-permanent to stay.

They were mostly quiet the whole way back, chatting occasionally. The wind and the clear sky were calming Katara's mind, and she was greatly enjoying flying Appa; even though Appa was the one doing all the work, it felt good to be in control, steering him which way to go. As they got closer to the Earth Kingdom coast she got apprehensive about seeing everyone else. She knew they would immediately want to ask her everything that had happened on her little field trip with Zuko, and she just wasn't ready to talk to them about it yet. Zuko was staring absently down at the ocean when she turned back to ask to switch so she could get some rest. They switched places and she asked him not to wake her up even once they picked everyone else up, she could talk to them once they landed at Ember Island. He nodded in understanding.

She laid down on the saddle but she didn't really plan on sleeping, she just rested her eyes and feigned sleep when they landed easily at the cliffside campsite where the rest of their friends were waiting.

"They're back!" she heard Aang call from the ground, "Appa buddy, I missed you!" he gave the bison a huge hug.

"Kataraaa! My sister, you're back!" Sokka cried in his overly-dramatic voice. She had to force herself not to smile as she imagined him running toward Appa with his arms flailing over his head.

Zuko shushed them all, "be quiet, she's asleep!"

"How is she?" Aang asked in his concerned voice.

"Come on, pack everything up, I have an idea of where we can stay until the comet comes," Zuko said, ignoring Aang's question.

There was a slight pause at the change of subject, then Suki piped up and asked what his plan was. After a little bit of convincing, and Zuko promising that Sokka wouldn't have to sleep in Ozai's bedroom, they all agreed that staying on Ember Island would be an okay idea. They all gathered up their things and clambered on to Appa to head out.

Still curled up in the saddle as they flew, she could feel everyone's eyes on her as she tried to keep her breaths steady and sleeplike. She suspected she wasn't fooling Toph, even with her limited vision while riding Appa, but the earthbender didn't let on to Katara's ruse if she did know.

"Really Zuko, is she okay?" Sokka asked with a worry that Katara felt in her bones.

She heard Zuko shift, presumably to check if she was still asleep. "I'm not sure… I think she will be," he answered.

"Did she, um, _do it_?" Suki asked with some hesitation.

"No, she didn't. But she kind of freaked out afterwards… I think she had a panic attack, and she's mostly been sleeping since then," he paused, "she probably wants some space before talking about it."

Katara was grateful that he left out her frantic punching and screaming, and the maniacal laughing attack - and also surprised that he knew to tell them that she wanted to be left alone. That was probably why he was being so quiet around her all day yesterday and today, and why he rarely brought up the subject. She would have to thank him later.

Aang was quiet during the vague conversation about her and Zuko's journey; she could feel him sitting right next to her the whole ride, and wondered what he was thinking.

She must have actually fallen asleep at some point because the sun was much lower in the sky when she finally opened her eyes, and when she sat up they were lowering onto a small secluded beach with a large house just up the hill beyond it.

Everyone gave her a big smile and a hug when she sat up, but no one asked how she was doing. Appa landed on the beach and Aang moved up to Appa's head saying that he wanted to do a lap around the area to make sure no one was around, and everyone else could stay check out the house. Sokka and Zuko opted to stay with Aang, while Toph an Suki hopped down with Katara so they could go explore the house and pick out their rooms. Katara told them to go on ahead and instead sat with her legs dangling into the water on the end of the run-down pier at the edge of the beach.

She sat there absentmindedly bending the water around her feet for a few minutes before Aang and Zuko came walking down the pier toward her. Reaching her, Aang asked if she was okay and said he was proud of her for what she didn't do. Zuko must have told him and Sokka what had happened in more detail while they flew around the island.

"I wanted to do it," she replied to his praise, "I wanted to take out all my anger at him, but I couldn't. I don't know if it's because I'm too weak to do it, or because I'm strong enough not to."

"You did the right thing, forgiveness is the first step you have to take to begin healing," Aang said as Katara stood from the end of the dock.

His world view was so different than hers in that moment, he seemed so focused on the abstract, general idea of forgiveness rather than the actual feelings Katara had about Yon Rha. She honestly didn't care about forgiving him, she didn't care if he deserved it or not, she didn't care what he deserved at all. But she was glad that she hadn't changed who she was when she saw him. Before she actually saw Yon Rha, she hadn't been sure what she was going to do, she thought she could become anyone to avenge her mother, but after seeing him she realized how important it was not to kill him, to not become anything like him. She couldn't forgive him, but she would never show him mercy either, instead she would practice indifference and let him live out his sad little existence. Katara wasn't sure she could ever explain that to Aang, or to anyone really, but she didn't blame him or fault him for that, now that it was all over she was glad to have someone like him to give his differing opinion so freely.

She told Aang that she could never forgive Yon Rha and she shifted toward Zuko. Aang was right in a sense, forgiveness was the first step in healing, and in a way her journey had been about forgiveness, just not forgiveness for Yon Rha. Katara had been so focused on getting closure and revenge that she had treated Zuko terribly the whole trip, and he never seemed to blame her for it. Originally, she had thought it was just because he was trying so hard to earn her forgiveness and approval, but after going through all of those emotions and him backing her up in his own way, she didn't care why he had come with her. He had been there for her, he had let her make her own decisions and he hadn't judged her for any of them. He had made a great ally, and even though she didn't want to admit it, a good friend as well.

She looked Zuko in the eyes, "but I am ready to forgive you," she said as she walked toward him and gave him a tight hug, which he reciprocated. She noticed vaguely that he smelled faintly of jasmine, just like the stealth clothes she had let him borrow, and she mentally rolled her eyes at how weird her life had become. Pulling back from the hug she met his eyes again and felt that focused stare of his burrow into her eyes, they smiled at each other slightly and she wondered if he knew how he was looking at her, and if she was looking at him the same way – like for the briefest moment she was the only thing he could see.

She broke away from his piercing gaze and saw that Sokka was standing on the beach waiting for her and she felt guilt swirl around her in stomach. She had been so blinded by anger the last time she saw him and felt terrible about how she had snapped at him.

"Hey," she said shyly as she approached him.

"Hey," he said with a small smile, "are you eally okay? Zuko told us everything, and well, I'm just glad you're okay."

"Oh, Sokka I'm so sorry for what I said before, I didn't mean it, it was a horrible thing to say to you," she just sort of blurted it out all at once.

He smiled back at her, "it's okay Katara, I know you didn't mean it. And I want you to know, I would have supported you no matter what you ended up doing. He deserved it. I mean, I'm glad you didn't do it too, but I'm glad you did _something_. Now he knows what he really did to our family."

She smiled back at him and gave him a big hug, "thanks Sokka," a small tear came up in her eye.

He hugged her back before lightly shoving her away, "yeah, yeah okay, enough smushy stuff, let's go pick out our rooms, we're gonna be living like Fire Nation royalty baby!" he made a small whooping noise and jogged up the beach a bit. Katara laughed to herself and followed him with a smile.

\- \/\ -

By the time they reached the front steps of the house Zuko and Aang had finished whatever conversation they were having out on the pier and had caught up with Sokka and Katara. The four of them walked into the house together and Zuko gave a small disgusted sigh as he looked around. Katara didn't know what he was upset about, the house was quite beautiful and understated. She had been expecting red Fire Nation banners and gold ornamentations everywhere, but it was surprisingly simple. The front door opened in to the main living space, it had a couch that faced two arm chairs and had a low table between them, a large wooden staircase off to the right, and another long low dining table just beyond the couch that was surrounded by several maroon cushions - more than enough for all of them to sit around come meal times. To the left of the couch and chairs was an archway into the kitchen which was partly open to the rest of the room so that whoever was cooking would be able to see and chat with whoever was in the living space. Past the dining table were two sliding paper-screen doors that were open to a large courtyard with a fountain off to one side and stone steps surrounding the whole area, it was obviously designed with bending matches in mind. The whole place was so light and open, the wind flowed easily and peacefully between the open windows and doors – Katara couldn't believe that the Fire Nation had designed something so calming to live in.

"Wow, this is amazing," Katara said, taking it all in.

"Yeah Zuko, why didn't you take us here earlier? Trying to keep all your royal perks to yourself?" Toph had piped up from where she was sitting on the couch, her feet propped up on the table in front of her.

Zuko gave a disgruntled sigh in response. _Hm, he really doesn't like this place,_ Katara thought to herself.

Just then Suki came running down the stairs, "you guys! You have to come see the rooms, they're so big! Come on Sokka, I picked one for us that has its own bathroom!" she said grabbing Sokka's arm to pull him up the stairs with her.

"Oh good, you guys are sleeping upstairs? I'll stay down here then, where I won't have to see you two rolling all over each other every night anymore," Toph said pointedly, making a face at them.

Sokka's mouth dropped wide open, and Katara, Aang and Zuko stiffened and shifted away from the couple as Suki gasped, "Toph!"

"Come on! You guys _know_ I see with my feet, and we've all been sharing ground for a while, you really think I didn't know what was going on!?" she laughed, she was thoroughly enjoying embarrassing them.

"I, ah, you, but," Sokka sputtered for a moment, "it's been three days! Why did you wait until NOW to say something?"

Katara threw her hands over her ears, "oh god, I do not want to hear about this!" She had suspected her brother and Suki had been getting more intimate, and had in fact had planned on teasing him a bit about it, but hearing it from Toph in front of everyone else, along with the realization that the young earthbender would have essentially seen everything, was giving Katara a serious case of the oogies.

Toph laughed outright and shrugged as she answered Sokka, "I thought it would be better to bring up with an audience – and man was I right! You guys should see your heart rates right now, this is great!" she threw her head back with another satisfied cackle.

"Wait, when you say rolling around at night, you mean like…" Aang asked earnestly, causing Toph's laughter to roar even louder, and Zuko gave a suppressed snort too.

Sokka and Katara looked at him shocked, "what, you think this is funny too?" she asked.

He shrugged, not being able to hide his smile anymore, "I mean, the whole thing," he gestured between everyone, "and then Aang asking, I mean, it is kind of funny," he began to laugh openly.

"Okay, okay, big deal, so you all know now!" Suki said finally speaking up, "that just means we don't have to hide or try to be so quiet anymore," she said with a small humph and started to pull Sokka away up to their new shared room again. Everyone blushed at Suki's implication, except for Toph who just continued laughing, though she was beginning to wind down now.

Sokka looked like he was deciding something for a moment before he stuck his nose up in the air and followed upstairs after Suki, "yeah! What she said!"

Katara gasped, suddenly hoping she wouldn't be stuck in the room next to her brother's, "I'm going to go pick out my room!" She said quickly, scampering up the stairs.

Once she reached the top she just made out Aang whispering to Zuko, "they _were_ all just talking about sex, right? I didn't even know Toph knew what that was…" Katara heard Zuko smack his palm to his forehead and Toph's laughter reached its peak again. Katara immediately tried to pretend she didn't hear him say that, _she_ didn't even think _Aang_ knew what sex was.

With Toph's laughter still echoing behind her, Katara looked around the hall, there were two doors on the left-hand side, two sets of double doors on the right side, and another single door at the far end of the hall. The second set of double doors was slightly ajar and she figured that was probably the one that Suki had picked out for her and Sokka. She opted for the first room to the left as it seemed to be the farthest away from her brother's. She opened the door and flopped down on the bed with a sigh. Pretending that whole awkwardness hadn't happened was going to be the best course of action, she decided. She actually _didn't_ think it was that big of a deal that Sokka and Suki were sleeping together, it was just the situation that was weirding her out, so she pushed the conversation out of her mind and focused on her new surroundings.

The room was sparsely decorated, keeping with the style of the rest of the house, it had just the bed in the corner across from the door, a cushy chair on the left wall opposite the bed, a full-length mirror, and another one of those sliding paper doors that opened up on to a balcony. Sitting up from the bed she went to go look at her view and saw the sun was almost set over the courtyard down below; she would be able to watch Aang learn his firebending from her balcony tomorrow if she wanted to. When she came back into the room she saw there was a door near the foot of the bed that she hadn't noticed before. She opened it and saw that it was a small washroom with two sinks and another door at the other end. _Looks like Suki didn't find the only room with a bathroom in it._

Two sinks were a little odd though, and Katara wondered if it was shared with the room next door. She pushed open the door and her suspicions were confirmed, Zuko was standing at the foot of the bed across the room from her taking his things out of the pack they had been sharing the last few days. She had been meaning to talk to him anyway to grab her things out of it so she could unpack herself.

"Hey, looks like we'll be sharing a bathroom," she said walking toward him.

"Aah!" he jumped into a bending position at the sound of her voice, but was too close to one of the legs of the bed and ended up tripping and falling backwards against the wall.

Katara snorted with laughter, "did I _scare_ you? What are you afraid of bathroom spirits or something?"

He rubbed his head and glared at her, "Azula and I used to share the bathroom, and she had a habit of surprise attacking me when I was asleep," he said coldly.

"Oh, so then, no surprise bathroom attacks, got it," she attempted to give a serious nod, but he just continued to glare at her. "So then, that means, I'm sleeping in Azula's old room? Man, that's weird…"

Zuko paused for a moment then stood and brushed off his annoyance from having been scared, "yeah she and I had these two rooms, my uncle had the room at the end that Aang is staying in, and my mother and father had those two big rooms across the hall."

"So, wait," Katara paused with a hesitant smile, "you're saying, that my brother and Suki are going to be sleeping in the same bed that your mother used to sleep in?" she asked pointedly.

His mouth opened slightly with realization before he closed it again tightly. "Sokka!" he yelled as he stormed out of the room and across the hall. Katara could hear a small scuffling beyond the doorway and had to stop herself from laughing; if the situation were reversed and one of her friends was getting _close_ where her mother used to sleep, she'd be upset about it too, but watching it happen to Zuko was decidedly entertaining.

Katara started to sift through the pack that had been left on the floor next to Zuko's bed while listening to the ruckus going on across the hall. She heard a girlish yelp which could only have come from Sokka, "Zuko let go of my ear! You _promised_ me I wouldn't have to sleep in Ozai's room!" There was some more crashing and clanging and Katara continued to gather more of her things in to her arms when she heard Zuko yell at Sokka again, "no! You offering to do it on the floor instead does _not_ make me feel better!" There was another scuffle and then a loud thud as Zuko landed on his butt out in the hallway. "Nice one Suki!" Sokka cheered triumphantly.

"I'm really sorry Zuko, but I think us being creeped out by sleeping under the Fire Lord's sheets wins over you being uncomfortable with us sleeping where your mom used to," Suki said with a sympathetic smile as she looked down at him from where she had knocked him over.

Zuko growled loudly as he stood up and stormed off downstairs as Toph's laughter echoed through the hall again. Suki saw Katara crouched by the bed and gave her a smile through the doorways and in meeting each other's eyes they burst into laughter as well.

"Hey, Katara?" Sokka popped his head out from behind the door frame, "now that you're back are you gonna cook us dinner? I'm reeeally tired of trying to eat Suki's 'Kyoshi Stir-Fry'" Suki glared at his use of air quotes and hit him lightly across the shoulder, "you don't have to keep rubbing it in ya know!"

Katara chuckled and told him she just wanted to finish unpacking her things from her and Zuko's shared pack, that she'd meet them downstairs soon, and that they should look around the kitchen to see if there was any food in the kitchen. Sokka agreed and headed down the staircase, while Suki lingered for a moment.

"I'm really glad to see you're okay after everything that happened, you seem a lot more like yourself than you have lately," Suki said, crossing the hallway and leaning down to give Katara a quick hug.

Katara patted Suki's back lightly and thanked her, "I think just being around you guys is helping a lot, it's nice to get back to some sort of normal," she looked up at Suki with a big smile, which she returned before going downstairs after Sokka.

Katara had now gathered everything out of the pack except for her comb, it was always getting stuck at the bottom. The sun was fully behind the horizon now and the light was fading fast so she fished her hand around the bottom of the sack blindly; she felt the comb underneath something square shaped and hard and pulled them both out.

She placed the comb on the pile of her things she had already taken out and examined the other object, it was hard to tell in the dimming light but she could just make out a drawing in a frame. Tilting it more to find the light she realized it was a picture of Zuko's uncle Iroh. If it was in the pack with their things, that meant he had it on their whole trip to confront Yon Rha – did he bring this with him everywhere he went? She suddenly felt ashamed, she had accidentally stumbled across something very personal, and she hastily shoved the portrait back into the pack, covering it up with some of Zuko's shirts that she had pulled out earlier to get to her things.

Feeling guilty now for teasing him about Azula's surprise attack, and Sokka and Suki's canoodling in his mother's bed, she remembered Zuko's look of disgust when they entered the house. He must have a lot of painful memories of this place. As she crossed back through their shared bathroom and in to her bedroom to drop of her things she decided that if she was really going to make an effort to be his friend she should apologize to him soon. After all, she would apologize in this type of situation if it were anyone else, even if apologizing to Zuko was a bit of a foreign concept.

Upon dropping her things on to her bed she saw that the sun had fully set, and she couldn't see anything in the room anymore. In the Earth Kingdom and even at the Western Air Temple there had been bioluminescent crystals in little sconces on the walls that would naturally add light to the rooms when it got dark, but they were in the house of the Fire Lord, of _course_ everything would be done with firebending. She sighed loudly and left to go downstairs to look for Aang or Zuko to help light up the house, or at least the kitchen area so that she could see enough to cook.

She found Aang sitting on the counter that separated the kitchen from the main living area, trying to peek at what food Sokka was finding in the pantry. So far, he had only managed to pull out a lot of bags of rice and a few bundles of what looked like some type of dried meat.

"Hey Aang, I was wondering if you'd be able to light the rest of the torches down here and the ones in the hallway and bedrooms too? I kinda doubt this place has any spark rocks," Katara said, leaning on a column next to him.

"You got it!" he hopped off the counter joyfully and made an air scooter under his feet, "Avatar Hotman is on the job!" he gave a small bow and scooted off around the room, lighting torches as he went. Katara laughed and Sokka only groaned at Aang's use of hundred-year-old slang.

"Don't forget to do my room behind the kitchen too!" Toph called from the couch.

"Okay!" Aang said as he sped off toward the doorway next to the column Katara was leaning on, before coming back out a moment later, "hey! Stop doing that, you don't even need light in your room!" he yelled back at Toph, who responded by doing that thing she does where she waves her hand in front of her blank eyes.

"It never gets old!" she called back to him as he sped by her unnecessarily fast, causing her hair to fall out of its clip into a big frizzy mess.

Suki came out of the pantry with another bag of rice and joined Katara in laughing at Toph's now disheveled appearance. Sokka and Suki hadn't been able to find anything in the pantry other than the rice and meat, which Katara guessed was rhino jerky, so there wasn't much cooking to be done. They'd have to go into town tomorrow and get some supplies, Sokka and Aang said that they had seen a town not far from them when they had scoped out the area on Appa earlier.

When Aang finished lighting all the torches in the house he came back down to light a fire so that Katara could boil the water for the rice. By the time it was ready to be set on the dining table Zuko had come back from wherever he had huffed off to. She thought he might be in a better mood, he wasn't be snappy with anyone at least. Everyone chatted idly during dinner, Aang and Zuko discussed a schedule to start training again at sunrise tomorrow, while everyone else agreed to go in to town to get a feel for the area and pick up some more supplies.

Katara left the few dishes there were on the counter next to the water basin in the kitchen, opting to do them tomorrow instead of tonight, it was getting late and she wanted to get moving early tomorrow. Laying down on her bed everything seemed so quiet all of a sudden. She had been feeling so much better all day, but being in the silence of her own room suddenly felt isolating. She tossed and turned, feeling uncomfortable in the silky soft sheets, for what felt like hours before she finally slipped into sleep.

\- \/\ -

She awoke with a start a few hours later in absolute darkness, the torch in her room had gone out, and the sound of rain pattering lightly outside filled her room. This time she couldn't remember what happened in the dream, but the feeling of fear, guilt, and absolute loneliness was heavy in her gut. She sat up remembering how Zuko had told her to breath yesterday, she took deep breaths in and out, trying to go at a consistent pace. Her heart slowed a bit but the darkness of the room felt like it was closing in on her. Wrapping the red silk blanket around her shoulders she tip-toed out of the room and downstairs into the still lit living area – she could hear Toph snoring loudly from the room just beyond the kitchen.

Some of the torches downstairs had gone out too, but there were enough of them still burning to give the room a cozy feeling. The low lighting combined with Toph's rhythmical snoring and the slightly lumpy couch felt more welcoming to Katara than the too soft bed she had upstairs. She laid her head down on one of the couch cushions, curled up under the blanket and fell into a light sleep.

\- \/\ -

Some creaking of the stairs and light scuffling around the couch caused her to wake again some hours later. The sun hadn't peeked over the horizon just yet, but Zuko was awake, walking cautiously toward the kitchen in the low light of dawn.

"Zuko?" Katara asked, sitting up and rubbing her eyes.

He stopped suddenly and turned to face her, "hey sorry, once I saw you were down here I tried not to make as much noise."

She shrugged, she had wanted to be up early anyway, "what are you doing up so early?"

"I rise with the sun, remember?" he said with a smirk.

She rolled her eyes and laughed, "I thought that was just some lame thing you said to sound cool!"

He shrugged back at her, eyeing her cautiously but still smiling as he sat on one of the chairs across from her, "why are you down here anyway?"

Her eyes avoided his eyes for a moment; even though he had seen her entire emotional breakdown the other day she wasn't sure if she felt totally comfortable actually _talking_ to him about it. "I uh, had another nightmare, and the light had gone out in my room… it just felt better to sleep down here."

"Oh," he had a look of regret on his face, as if he knew he shouldn't have asked her something that would clearly have a personal answer, but he nodded in understanding, "uh well, if the light goes out again, you can ask me to relight it for you if you want."

"Really? You won't think I'm Azula trying to attack you again?" she joked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Ha, ha" he responded sarcastically.

An awkward beat passed between them, and he shifted to get up when Katara spoke again, "hey, Zuko?" he paused, "that uh, deep breathing thing you did with your hands the other day… where did you learn about that?"

He looked momentarily embarrassed and paused a while before answering, "my uncle used to do that for me when I would have trouble sleeping after… after my banishment."

"Oh," now it was Katara's turn to feel embarrassed about asking a personal question, she was curious to know more about his banishment but was wise enough not to ask and shifted topics slightly, "well, I wanted to say thank you for that, it helped me, and has been helping get to sleep since then too." He just stared her, unsure how to respond. "Also, I wanted to apologize to you for teasing you earlier about the Sokka-and-your-moms-room situation."

His face changed to an expression of confusion, "what? That wasn't your fault, it was Sokka's, and besides it wasn't even that bad, I overreacted."

Katara's face then changed to mirror his confusion, "well, you just seemed so mad about it and it seemed like I was a part of that, and friends apologize, so I apologized," she began to feel a little defensive that he wasn't just accepting her apology, and she began to feel silly for even saying anything - he was right in a sense, it wasn't her fault. But still, a person should accept an apology when it's given to them.

"I get mad easily," he waved his hand nonchalantly, "it's fine." He looked somewhat uncomfortable with the conversation now and another pause of silence passed between them.

Katara looked at him curiously before speaking again, "people don't apologize to you very often, do they?" He just stared back at her again. Realization dawned on her, he must not have had many friends before he joined their group, she knew he had been dating that tall gloomy girl – she had overheard him and Sokka talking about it after they rescued her father and Suki – but Katara couldn't imagine that she would have been the type to apologize much. "Well, here on Team Avatar we apologize to each other when we feel it's necessary, so get used to it," she crossed her arms with confidence as she said it.

His face broke out into a smile and he snorted, "' _Team Avatar?'"_ he asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Ugh, just forget it," she said standing to walk toward the kitchen, "and don't tell Sokka I said that, he'll never shut up about it." She reached the pile of dishes that were sitting in the wash basin from lasts night's dinner and absentmindedly swirled water over them and stacked the clean ones off to the side.

"You got it, no teasing you about your guys' _super cool_ nickname," he had followed behind her into the kitchen and was leaning against the counter facing her, his hands up as if admitting defeat, "I wouldn't want to have to _apologize_ to you so soon after you apologized to me," his voice now dripping with sarcasm.

Katara turned toward him and opened her mouth in mock offense, "oh I see how it is mister Prince of Honor, I won't be so sensitive to your feelings next time, don't expect any more apologies from me," she made a small water whip from the dish water and smacked him lightly in the head with it, getting the left side of his hair wet.

He rolled his eyes and shook his head slightly to get some of the water out, "mister Prince of Honor? Wow Katara, another _great_ nickname, you should start writing these down!" he had a smug smile on his face.

"Oh, shut up and help me dry these! If you have to stand over here you might as well help me out," she had run out of retorts to throw back at him, and she didn't want to admit that he had been winning in this teasing contest. She had started the conversation attempting to apologize for possibly hurting his feelings and it had ended with him basically laughing at her; trying to be friends with Zuko was weird.

"'Team Avatar' wasn't even _my_ nickname…" she grumbled under her breath, still trying to get the last word in. She felt him laugh silently next to her as he continued to warm the dishes in his hands to help them dry faster.

Katara eventually broke the silence to ask about his plan for training Aang today, and spoke about how the rest of them were going in to town – Zuko had some good advice of shops to try for food to bring back and even a small café they could all go to at lunch. When they were done washing, Zuko headed back upstairs to wake Aang, and as Katara began to put the bowls and plates away she was struck again by how well she and Zuko worked together, he was surprisingly easy to get along with when he wasn't angry or teasing her. Having him help her with the dishes everyday would be a good routine, she thought to herself, _we hide from the Fire Nation right under their noses, while the Prince teaches the Avatar firebdending and helps me wash the dishes in his spare time._ She chuckled to herself, what a weird new sense of normalcy.

-/\/\/\/\/\/\\-

* * *

 **A/N: Thanks for reading, and thanks to those of you who left reviews, I really appreciate it! I wanted this chapter to have some more fun little moments after the first chapter (and the first bit of this one too) was relatively heavy so I hope you enjoyed it! It makes sense to me that the Gaang would be on Ember Island for a while before the comet comes and I'm going to expand out their time here a bit, so there'll be at least a few chapters all set here, and a chapter revolving around the Ember Island Players episode will be coming up soon too.**

 **I know there isn't a ton of plot movement in this one, but I did want to have some fun with it as well, and there are so many little details and scenes I have swirling around in my head, so I'm doing my best to organize them in the best way possible for the story - turns out it takes a while for me to get all those details actually written down in a way I'm satisfied with. This chapter is 8,576 words, bringing the story total up to 20,297, and I have a LOT more story that I want to get through, so I really appreciate those of you willing to take this ride along with me!**

 **Thanks again, and any thoughts or comments are appreciated!**


	3. Lessons in Meditation

**In a New Light**

 **Chapter 3 – Lessons in Meditation**

-/\/\/\/\/\/\\-

Upon leaving the house, the four of them realized their first stop would have to be to get Suki some new Fire Nation clothes, as the only things she'd had for the last week or so were her prison garments. During the twenty-minute walk from their private beach to the main island town they also discussed the need to be as undercover as possible, that they should try to remember to use fake names whenever they could, and that Zuko and Aang should probably refrain from leaving the house at all, if possible – they were both too recognizable. Aang's cover of being from the Earth Kingdom colonies had worked pretty well when he accidentally enrolled in that school over a month ago, so they opted to stick with that – with Sokka insisting he'd still be called Wang Fire.

"Well if you're still going to be Wang Fire, I guess that means I'll just be your sister Sapphire Fire," Katara resigned, she wasn't particularly fond such simple cover names.

"If we're going to be from the Earth Kingdom colonies Toph and I can probably keep our names the same, we aren't as recognizable as the rest of you, and besides there's reportedly a lot of _comingling_ going on in the colonies, so our traditional Earth Kingdom names probably won't stand out too much," Suki explained.

"Wait, comingling, like the new Fire Nation people and the original Earth Kingdom people, getting together?" Sokka asked incredulously, "that's insane! The Fire Nation invaded their lands, and they've just started shacking up with them!?"

"Well, a lot of those colonies have been around for over a hundred years now, so I think it probably feels pretty normal to them – there's like a whole generation of kids who have grown up in that environment," Suki said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, I used to hear my parents talk about all of the 'filthy race mixing' between Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom citizens in the colonies. My dad was particularly fond of trash talking one family he had heard of that had two kids, a brother and sister, who were an earthbender and a firebender respectively," Toph chimed in.

"Wow, I hadn't even thought about that before," Katara mused curiously, "so the same mother was able to have children with two different bending abilities? That's sort of amazing."

"Amazing? Katara, it's almost sick! The Fire Nation is the enemy! You wouldn't want to have little jerkbender babies would you!?" Sokka asked.

Katara's mouth fell open in shock, blushing slightly at the implication "that's not what I said, Sokka! I just meant it's sort of fascinating, and besides, I think it's kind of beautiful that people were able to find love under such difficult circumstances."

"It probably didn't start out as love…" Sokka mumbled under his breath.

"Come on Sokka, how would Zuko feel if he heard you calling him sick?" Suki questioned.

"Well Zuko is different, he doesn't count" Sokka threw his hands in the air, "he's proven he's different from all the rest of them!"

"Well considering he's the Prince of the Fire Nation, and will probably become Fire Lord if we win the war, I'd say he definitely counts," Suki said, glaring at Sokka slightly.

Her words hit Katara harder than she expected, she knew Zuko's title, and what it meant that he was fighting to help overthrow his father, but she had never really thought any further than that – it was just dawning on her now that Zuko could be Fire Lord in just a few weeks. That awkward, brooding teenager back at the house, could be ruling this whole country, and would have to deal with citizens with attitudes like her brother, who thought cohabitating with the Earth Kingdom in a peaceful way was sick. She suddenly felt so young and so small, the weight of the war feeling heavier on her shoulders than ever. She wondered if this is how Aang felt after she broke him out of the iceberg and told him about the hundred-year war, or how Zuko felt when he left the Fire Nation Capital after the invasion to come join them. Aang was working so hard to become a great Avatar and he seemed so cheerful all the time, Katara wondered how he dealt with such a huge responsibility.

"Yeah, and Zuko is going to have to deal with shits like you saying that cooperating with the Earth Kingdom, and probably the Water Tribes too, is "filthy race mixing." Heck, we're probably gonna see that today from people in this town! I don't know if you've noticed, but the Fire Nation kids don't take to well to us 'being colonials'" Toph said, mirroring some of Katara's earlier thoughts.

"Okay, fine, fine, point taken, not all jerkbenders are jerks," Sokka said shrugging and raising his hands up nonchalantly, "but I'll be watching them all like a hawk!" he pointed two fingers at his eyes then then pointed one out in front of him dramatically.

\- \/\ -

The shopping district of the town was quite large, Katara guessed it was probably one of the few places to really get anything on the island. They quickly snuck off into the first clothing shop they could find, careful to make sure no one noticed Suki's tattered prison clothes.

"Sokka, you don't need another bag," Katara groaned as they passed a rack of various accessories that he had gotten distracted by.

"But that bag was _green_ and this one is _red_. Come on, I need a bag to go with my Fire Nation clothes!" he protested.

"No, no more bags, we're just here to get some clothes for Suki and maybe a hat for Aang. His belt as a headband won't work now that he's shaved his head again," Katara responded sternly.

"Fiiiine," Sokka whined, "Toph come help me pick out a hat for Aang while they go and do their girly shopping thing."

"Oh, by girly shopping, do you mean like picking out a bag that'll match my new outfit?" Suki teased. Sokka stuck his tongue out at her but then smiled as he put his arm around Toph to lead her toward the other end of the store.

Suki picked out a two-piece outfit similar to the one Katara had on, a cropped halter type top with a black jeweled neckline that showed off her toned stomach, with shin length pants that tucked into a new pair of black and red boots.

"Perfect, very Fire Nation," Katara said with a smile, "now we just have to tie the top of your hair into a top knot and you'll blend right in."

Suki sat down on a bench in front of Katara who quickly worked her hands through Suki's hair and retied her half-up ponytail into a more smooth looking top knot.

"Wow, you did that fast," Suki said, admiring herself in the mirror.

"Oh yeah, I had to do them for Sokka a lot when we first started hiding out, he kept accidentally pulling the hair too much and making this weird half wolf-tail half top knot thing," Katara said with a laugh.

"Ha, really? I'm surprised he even let you touch it, he's very particular about his hair," Suki said, laughing along with her.

"Perfect hair and matching bags, my brother is so manly," Katara continued sarcastically.

"Hey who's manly?" Sokka said as he joined them near the changing rooms.

"You are sweetie," Suki said with a smirk while pinching his cheek, causing Sokka to grin broadly.

Katara snorted to herself before looking at the hat in Sokka's hands. "Uh, what is that?"

"Oh, it's a hat for Aang!" he said, holding it out to her enthusiastically.

Katara held the oblong shaped hat out in front of herself gingerly, "Sokka this looks like an old man hat. In fact, I think I've _seen_ an old man wear this hat."

"Oh, come on, even Toph said she thought it looked good!" Sokka groaned back at her.

Katara struck her palm to her forehead, "Toph can't see, Sokka!"

"Toph!" He let out an annoyed grunt while Toph snickered beside him.

"Whatever, it'll have to do," Katara said as she headed toward the counter to pay for their items. It was pretty expensive for just two outfits – Suki had picked out a bathing suit too – and a hat, and Katara was grateful that Zuko had managed to steal some money from the palace before he left, otherwise they wouldn't have nearly enough Fire Nation currency for even just the basic supplies they were going to need.

Deciding to stop for a snack before they went to the food market, the group quickly found the café that Zuko had described to them the night before. It had a large stone stairway leading up to the front doors, with tables scattered around outside. The stone steps were wide enough to sit on and there were several groups of young Fire Nation kids sprawled across them drinking tea or eating cakes. It looked like a social hub for all the kids and teenagers staying on the island.

Inside, the restaurant was fairly sparse, there were a few tables, and some chairs around the counter, which looked like it doubled as a bar in the evening, a large bulletin board covering the entire right wall with notices and posters for events on the island plastered on it, and a very grumpy looking man behind the register.

"We're out of fire flakes!" the man said gruffly before any of them had a chance to speak.

"Oh, uh, that's alright," Katara said, a little taken aback, "we just wanted to try some of the uh," she glanced quickly up at the menu, "volcanic spice cake, and four cups of ginseng tea please," she continued, keeping her tone as polite as possible.

The man glared at her, looking her up and down, "you kids can pay?" he barked, looking over the rest of the group.

"Of course, we can pay old man!" Toph responded, shaking the bag of Fire Nation currency in front of the worker.

"Wait here," he grumbled as he turned to the back of the store, complaining about 'spoiled teenagers of nobleman' as he went.

"Very smooth, Toph," Katara said, smirking down at the earthbender.

Toph just shrugged, "eh, he started it."

They left Sokka inside the shop to pick up their cake and tea while the girls scoped out a spot to sit outside. They found a section of the stone steps with enough room for all of them to sit and eat comfortably.

"There sure are a lot of kids our age here," Katara said, looking around at the café's clientele.

"Zuko did say it was a vacation island for generals and noblemen, I guess it makes sense that they'd bring their kids too," Suki added.

"Good point," Katara agreed, "probably makes it easier for us to blend in too."

"Hey, we haven't seen you ladies around here before," a deep voice suddenly came from a step just behind them.

Two tall Fire Nation boys were standing with their arms folded looking down at them, one with long unkempt looking hair.

"Uh, yeah, we just arrived yesterday," Suki said as casually as she could, hoping the boys weren't suspicious of their covers.

"Cool, I'm Chan, and this is Ruon-Jian," said the taller of the two, motioning to his friend with the long hair, "we're kind of a big deal around here, and we thought you ladies deserved an introduction," his voice oozed of misplaced confidence.

Toph stifled a laugh beside Katara, who had to fight to control her own laughter too.

"I'm Suki, and these are my friends Toph and Ka-Sapphire, and we're _very_ pleased to meet you two," her voice was dripping with a sarcasm that was completely missed by Chan and Ruon-Jian. Suki stood to hold out a hand to them, and Katara followed suit.

"We were wondering if we would see you two at the Spark Candle festival in a few days," Ruon-Jian said, looking Katara in the eyes.

"Hey what about me?" Toph said before Katara had a chance to respond.

"Oh, uh well, they don't really allow little kids to go in so," Chan said with a shrug.

Just then Sokka came back out from the restaurant, carefully balancing the cake and four cups of tea in his hands. "Woah, woah, woah, no one is taking _my_ girlfriend to any festival!" he declared in his overly-deep Wang Fire voice, as he awkwardly tried to put his arm around Suki while still balancing the food in his other hand.

"Girlfriend? Laame," Chan said, looking slightly dejected at Suki, who flashed a big smile at him while exaggeratedly leaning into Sokka.

"Dude, Chan, that means you're gonna have to take the small blind girl instead! That blows!" Ruon-Jian said, motioning to Toph. Then, in a flash the ground shifted under Ruon-Jian who slipped and fell over onto his face, knocking the tea in Sokka's hands all over Chan.

"Agh, what the hell man!? My mom just got me these pants!" Chan whined loudly while everyone else burst out laughing.

"I am so sorry dude; my mom will pay for a new pair!" Ruon-Jian said, following Chan who ran off in a hurry.

Still laughing, Sokka passed the slice of volcanic spice cake around that he had managed to save from Ruon-Jian's 'clumsy moment'. "Good one Toph, that was hilarious," he said, slapping her on the back.

"Those guys were jerks," she said, crossing her arms.

"What festival were they talking about anyway?" Sokka asked, turning to Suki and Katara.

"Something about spark candles?" Katara shrugged.

"Oh! I just saw a poster for that inside! It said something about dancing and everybody wearing masks, oh oh, and free drinks!" Sokka said excitedly, "it's the day after tomorrow."

"Oh, that sounds fun!" Suki exclaimed.

Katara shrugged again, "I don't know, we're supposed to be helping Aang get ready to fight the Fire Lord, I don't think it's the best idea to just be going to parties."

"You're too uptight Katara, one night of shenanigans won't hurt anyone," Sokka said, taking a big bite of cake.

"Well, it might hurt Chan and Ruon-Jian if we run into them again," Toph said with a smirk and Sokka laughed through the food in his mouth.

"Okay, fine, but we should see what Aang thinks about it first," Katara conceded.

She took a bite of her cake and was pleasantly surprised by its mild taste, with a name like Volcanic Spice Cake she was expecting it to have fire flakes or something baked into it, but it had a nice mixture of cinnamon and cream. She leaned back on her hands to feel the sun on her face, "you know, it's not so bad pretending to be Fire Nation nobility," she said contentedly.

\- \/\ -

Katara was exhausted. In addition to not sleeping well the night before, she had spent the rest of the afternoon arguing with Sokka about which types of meats to get, and explaining to him that she _had_ to get some vegetables for Aang too. Sokka then went on to argue that if it was so important for her to get some fruits for her _boyfriend_ that she should just carry all the non-meat products back to the house. Katara had merely rolled her eyes at the boyfriend comment, Sokka had been teasing her with similar jokes since the day they found Aang in the iceberg, and while she wasn't sure exactly how she felt about Aang's crush on her, she knew that indulging Sokka's teasing by disagreeing would only make things worse. She was, however, extremely pissed about being made to carry all the bags the whole twenty minutes home. Suki had offered to help, but Katara decided to spare her from having to get in the middle of the sibling argument.

She dumped all the bags in the entryway as soon as she walked into the house, and promptly flopped face first onto the couch in the living space. Zuko and Aang came in from the courtyard looking equally as exhausted, they must have really been training all day.

Zuko gave a brief wave and started taking the bags from the entryway into the kitchen.

"Hey guys!" Aang greeted them all cheerfully, "wow Katara, you look terrible," he said poking her lightly where she laid on the couch.

She mumbled into the couch something that sounded like "mph tired mphsh Sokka…hmph carried fruit," while attempting to gesture with her hands what she meant.

"She has no respect for meat!" Sokka exclaimed as he stomped upstairs dramatically.

Aang looked to Suki and Toph for explanation.

"Sugar Queen over here got a little snippy with Sokka at the market," Toph said, shrugging.

Thinking back, Katara was a little meaner to him than she had meant to be. At first, she thought her comments were coming off as playful, but in retrospect she had basically just yelled at him in the middle of a crowded market about not being considerate of other people's feelings. _What a dumb and ironic argument_ , she thought to herself as she sat up.

Her eyes felt heavy and bloodshot as she looked around the room, "I didn't sleep well last night," she sighed, "I'll go apologize to him later."

"Why couldn't you sleep?" Aang asked with concern.

Katara felt a little self-conscious, and gave an even vaguer answer than the one she had given Zuko earlier that morning – she didn't want Aang to know exactly how much the events with Yon Rha had affected her. "I just feel like I have all these thoughts in my head that won't calm down, so I never fall asleep," she tried to say nonchalantly.

"That happens to me all the time!" Aang said with a smile, "I just meditate and clear my mind for a little while and then usually I go right to sleep."

Katara managed a laugh, she hadn't thought about it but it did make sense, Aang had so much energy all the time, and those days right before the invasion he had had quite a few nightmares; his thoughts must just bounce around in his head at night like he does during the day.

"Hey, do you think you could teach me how to meditate? Maybe that'll help me get to sleep too!" Katara asked, excited about the revelation of a potential solution.

Aang's eyes lit up, "yeah that sounds great! Let's go try right now!"

Katara hadn't really been alone with Aang since he had kissed her during the invasion, and while she wasn't exactly avoiding him, she was glad that they hadn't had an opportunity to talk about it. She wasn't sure how she felt about the kiss, she remembered the way her face flushed and her stomach flipped over itself, and she felt almost embarrassed thinking about how good it felt to be desired. But it all happened so fast and there was so much going on that she never felt like she had time to process it, her father got injured and she had to fight, and then they all had to retreat and escape. She didn't know how her brother and Suki made it seem so easy to just _know_ that they wanted to be with each other when there was a war waging on around them. Luckily Aang hadn't seemed too eager to talk about it yet either, and Katara hoped that they could just continue avoiding the conversation until after the war was over, when she'd have more clarity on her feelings.

He led her to the private balcony attached to his bedroom, which was much bigger than the room she was staying in, it had a full sized bed and the walls were lined with shelves full of scrolls. Zuko had said that this room had been his Uncle Iroh's room and Katara believed it; she hadn't spent much time with Iroh, but from what she had seen of him, he seemed to have a much quieter temperament than the rest of the royal family – and apparently and affinity for reading too. She made a mental note to ask Zuko more about his uncle sometime.

In the middle of the balcony there was a small tray with some candles and some fruit in a small bowl. _Does he eat while he meditates?_ She wondered to herself.

"Okay, sit cross legged in front of the candles and clasp your hands together," Aang gestured to the tray on the floor.

Katara settled herself easily, she had seen Aang meditate before and knew the position he usually took. He sat down on the floor next to her and put his hands together in a more complex position than hers.

"Okay, now what?" she asked eagerly.

"Now you just close your eyes, take deep breaths and focus on opening your chakras," he responded factually.

"Uh, open my what now?" Katara looked over at him skeptically.

"Chakras. They're pools of energy in your body, each one represents a different aspect of life, like guilt or something. You open them by letting go of whatever emotion or attachment is associated with them," Aang continued.

"Okaay, so, if I'm feeling guilty, then I just try and focus on not feeling guilty anymore?" she asked confused, feeling a little defeated that she wasn't fully understanding.

"Well sort of, you gotta think about whatever it is that's making you feel guilty, and then allow yourself to let it go," he responded, his tone still light.

"And you learned all this stuff from that Guru at the Eastern Air Temple who helped you with the Avatar State? But didn't you say you were never able to unblock one of them?" she asked curiously.

"Uh, well yeah," Aang blushed and rubbed the back of his neck, "but I'm working on it…"

She was curious what it was that was so important he couldn't let go of it in order to go into the Avatar State, but decided not to ask; she didn't want to explain to him what she was worried about and decided not to pry into his feelings either. What he said about letting go made sense in theory, but Katara wasn't sure she'd be able to do it in practice. She wasn't even sure exactly what she was feeling that was bothering her, it could be guilt, or maybe even fear, but it felt more like indecision. Was there even an indecision chakra? Her dreams had been centered on the encounter with Yon Rha so she figured she could start there for now.

"Okay, I'll try," she nodded at Aang before facing forward and closing her eyes.

Letting go… Letting go of what's been bothering her… First, she started by just focusing on keeping even breaths, counting slowly in and slowly out, like Zuko had shown her after the incident. She decided to just start at the dreams themselves and imagined herself back in her childhood igloo. Yon Rha was there menacing over her mother, and then Katara's view shifted to Yon Rha's and she felt her breath shorten, then the scene changed to the crystal catacombs below Ba Sing Se and there was a loud crack and a flash of light and Aang was lying in a lifeless heap on the ground. She rushed over to him and tried to heal him but she couldn't pull water from anywhere even though her hands felt wet, and looking down they were covered in blood that she somehow knew was her mother's and Yon Rha and Azula's laughter echoing around the chamber. Then Katara screamed.

"Katara!" Aang was leaning over her with concern etched across every inch of his face, she must have fallen backwards onto the floor, and her hand was clutching at her mother's necklace around her throat.

Taking in her surroundings she willed her heart to slow down and she regained her breath, sitting up and nodding at Aang, hoping to communicate that she was okay.

"I'm… fine…" she said, breathing sharply through her nose.

"Are you sure? You looked like you fainted!" Aang moved his arm as if he was going to comfort her, but hesitated so that his arm hung awkwardly in the air for a moment before dropping back down to his side. She was glad; she probably would have angrily swatted him away and she didn't want to upset him more.

"I'm fine, don't worry," she said, furiously nodding her head, "I think I must have fallen asleep and just had a little nightmare, don't worry, it's no big deal," she said flippantly as she stood to leave.

"Katara… are you sure?" he asked, looking up at her somewhat hurt and confused.

"Definitely" she forced a smile, hoping if she willed herself enough to believe it, that he would too.

"Okay," he said quietly, his eyes softening some, but traces of worry still twinkled in his eyes.

Once she was out of his sight she walked as quickly as she could to the bathroom attached to her room. She opened the door cautiously, checking to see if Zuko happened to be in there, and let out a sigh of relief when she saw that it was empty. She turned the lock in both doors and leaned her arms on the counter with her head hanging down. Deep breath in, deep breath out. _Forget, forget, forget. Just forget and it'll go away. It's over and you made your choice. Just forget,_ she repeated to herself like a mantra. Looking up at herself in the mirror she watched vacantly as she bent some water from her sink and splashed it over her face and through her hair. The cool sharpness of it snapped her back to the present. She'd just go downstairs, eat dinner, do the dishes and go to sleep and everything would go back to normal. She just had to focus on making her contributions to the group and ultimately her contributions toward ending the war, _I can do that,_ she thought with one last deep breath through her nose before she went downstairs to join the others.

Suki was placing plates on the table when Katara walked down the stairs while everyone else sat around the table looking at the food eagerly - Aang must have come straight down after Katara had rushed out of his room. She grabbed an open cushion next to Toph and started taking some of the noodles and vegetables from the center plate and dropping them on to hers.

"Okay, it's Kyoshi stir-fry round two!" Suki said excitedly, "this time Zuko cooked it and I just instructed, so nothing should be burnt this time."

"Mmph, Zuko, thith ith really good," Sokka said through a mouth full of noodles, "where did you learn to cook?" he asked, finally swallowing.

Zuko shrugged, "I just picked up some basics working in my uncle's tea shop."

" _You_ worked in a tea shop?" Toph asked with a smirk.

Katara's memories flashed to an image of an image of a very stressed looking Zuko wearing Earth Kingdom clothes and calling back to his uncle with more tea orders. Why _had_ he been working in that tea shop?

"Yeah, my uncle and I had been traveling as refugees after the siege at the Northern Water Tribe, and my uncle started a tea shop in Ba Sing Se," he said sheepishly.

"Oh man, His Royal Prissiness serving tea to those stuffs in Ba Sing Se!? I wish I had seen _that!_ " Toph said, throwing her head back.

"Wait Zuko, you were in Ba Sing Se that whole time we were there? I can't believe we never ran into you!" Aang said curiously.

"Well we were only in the Upper Ring for a day before Azula captured us," he said, giving a subtle glance over to Katara.

Her eyes widened before she looked away, he must have figured out at some point that she was the one who turned him in to his sister and gotten them both imprisoned in the catacombs. Why hadn't he been mad at her, and why didn't say anything about it to everyone now?

"Oh hey, I almost forgot, there's this festival in a day or so and we were thinking we should all go! It'll be good to have a little break don't you guys think!" Suki said to Aang and Zuko, changing the subject.

"Ooh sounds fun!" Aang said, hopping up and down slightly.

"What festival?" Zuko asked, his eyes narrowing warily.

"Something about spark candles? I don't know but, the poster said free drinks," Sokka said.

"I know that one! I wanted to go when I visited Kuzon in the Fire Nation a hundred years ago, but they didn't let kids in," Aang was getting increasingly more excited, "I bet I could sneak in now though, no problem – I'm a master of stealth!" he dramatically pulled his shirt up to cover the top of his head.

Zuko groaned, "ugh that festival is just an excuse for guys to try and get with as many girls as they can," he ran his hand over his face with annoyance.

"What? When I was here last time they said the festival as all about romance and fate. Everyone is supposed to come in masks and there's one huge spark candle in the middle of the dance floor and you're supposed to switch dance partners after every song and then when the spark candle finally goes out you and your dance partner are supposed to reveal yourself to each other and kiss! And all the kissing is why the monks wouldn't let us go," Aang said with a small 'hmph.'

"Yeah well it started out that way, but now all the sleazy guys just give the girls too much to drink, dance with them, and then convince them that the spark candle has already gone off so that they can make out with as many of them as they can before the candle actually does goes off and they can pick which girl they want to go home with," Zuko explained with annoyance.

"Ugh, ew" Katara and Suki said in unison, making faces of disgust.

"Oh, you guys are such piss babies, we don't have to drink, we won't take off our masks, and I'll sneakily pound on Chan and Ruon-Jian - and any other sleazy guys - whenever I can. It'll be fun!" Toph said, crossing her arms with confidence.

Zuko's eyes opened wide and he reeled back in shock, "Chan and Ruon-Jian!?" he yelled.

"You know those jerks?" Sokka asked curiously.

"Yeah those dickwads invited me, my sister, and her friends to a party and Ruon-Jian kept hitting on Mai all night, and it ended with us destroying their house," he gestured wildly as he explained, "we can't go, they'll recognize me."

"Come on Zuko! We'll all be wearing masks, they won't have a clue it's you! I really wanna go!" Aang whined.

"I don't know if it's such a good idea," Katara finally chimed in, "we should be focusing on your training, Aang."

"Yes, good point!" Zuko nodded vehemently, "what Katara said!"

"Sorry guys, it's four to two for going to the festival, and we've got the Avatar on our side, soo it looks like we'll be getting our masquerade partay on!" Sokka said with a small whoop before standing up to take his plate to the kitchen as a symbol of finality on the conversation.

Zuko gave one last groan before getting up with his plate as well, and everyone else followed suit a moment later.

Katara began swishing some water over the plates and bowls stacked next to the sink, occasionally scraping off some leftovers into a different larger bowl to take to Appa later – she would hate if any of the food would go to waste. Zuko had stayed in the kitchen to help her dry the dishes without her having to ask while everyone else slowly drifted back to their rooms to go to sleep.

Once everyone else was out of the kitchen and living area Katara let out a small sigh of relief and felt her shoulders relax, she hadn't realized she was holding her breath in so tightly.

"Aang's mediation lessons didn't go well I'm guessing?" Zuko asked, glancing at her briefly.

Katara stiffened slightly, she didn't think he would notice her change in posture, "how did you know?" she asked incredulously.

He shrugged, "you didn't talk much during dinner and you seemed kind of stiff - and you barely protested that stupid festival idea," he moved his hands around as he spoke.

"Ugh the stupid festival! Don't they know there's a war going on!" she accidentally splashed some water onto the counter and paused for a moment to bend it back into the bowl she was rinsing. She felt herself getting frustrated with everything, she wanted to be able to talk to someone about how she has been feeling lately. Normally her go to person was Aang, but she just kept feeling like he wouldn't fully understand, like he would just try and offer meager solutions rather than just listening and comforting her. She didn't understand how he had been through so much in the last year but never seemed affected by it; her emotions needed an outlet of some kind and Aang's meditation lesson didn't seem to work.

"But no, meditating didn't help, I don't know why, it's supposed to be about letting go and reaching spiritual peace and opening your chakras, and I just don't think I'm cut out for it," she said a little defeated.

Zuko screwed up his face into a look of extreme confusion, "Aang wanted you to open your what now?"

Katara laughed lightly despite herself, "apparently they're pools of energy in your body and he learned about opening them so he could go into the Avatar State."

"Ohh," Zuko said with comprehension, "maybe that's why it didn't work for you. I meditate almost every day and I don't know shit about any 'chakras,'" he made air quotes, "for me it isn't about reaching any sort of spiritual peace, it's just about clearing my mind and calming down my thoughts… I guess it's the same thing, I just think about it differently."

Now Katara looked at him with a surprised confusion, "wait, you meditate?"

"Mhmm," he nodded, "I try to do it in the mornings when I wake up, and almost always before I practice firebending. I've actually been doing it with Aang since I've started training him, it helps him learn about his breath of fire techniques by controlling the candle flames with just his breathing."

Huh. Zuko is generally one of the least calm people she knows – next to Sokka – but she has noticed he seemed calmer in the mornings. Everything he said about calming down thoughts and clearing the mind was exactly what she had been hoping for from meditation.

"Hey, that breathing with the flames thing, do you think I could do that with waterbending?" she said with just a trace of hope in her voice

He paused a moment, "uh maybe?"

"Could you teach me? It's basically just an extended version of those breathing techniques you learned from your uncle, right?" she was getting more excited the more she thought about it.

"Uh, Katara, I don't know, I mean, I'm not a waterbender, obviously…" he was fumbling his words slightly, was he embarrassed that she wanted to learn something from him?

"That's okay! Just teach me the same way you've been teaching Aang and I'll translate it into stuff that makes sense for water!" she had put down the dish she was working on and looked up at him expectantly, "oh come on, please, it'll only take fifteen minutes tops, and then I'll be able to it myself, promise."

"Okay fine," he grumbled reluctantly, "when do you want to start?"

"Well you do it in the morning, so I guess for me that means I should try it at night, why don't we try right now?" she said the last bit very quickly so that all the words strung together.

She grabbed his arm and tugged him toward the front door before he could argue against it. He merely let out another annoyed grunt, but didn't pull away as she led him out of the house and toward the pier at the far end of the beach.

Once they reached the edge of the pier she plopped down and crossed her legs. Looking up at him she tugged on the hem of his pants, indicating for him to sit down too.

He eyed her warily while she stared at him waiting for him to say something, "hello? So, what do I do?"

He let out a loud sigh, sat down across from her close enough that their knees were touching and paused for another moment before looking at her seriously, "is the reason you want to learn this so badly because of the nightmares you've been having?"

Her smile fell and her brow line hardened to glare at him, "this is supposed to be meditation, not therapy, Zuko."

"I'm just saying that if that's the reason, then I need to know, you're supposed to be clearing your thoughts, but when you get hyper focused on the thoughts you're trying to clear, the whole thing can backfire," he stared at her intently, she thought she could actually feel the focus of his eyes boring into her face.

She cast her eyes downward, unable to reciprocate his piercing gaze any longer, "well that would explain what happened earlier when Aang was teaching me…" She didn't have to explain herself to him, but when she looked back up he was still giving her that hard stare, she desperately wanted it to stop, it was too much and she was beginning to feel self-conscious, she probably looked exhausted. "Ugh, I had like a weird dream or vision or something of Yon Rha killing my mother, but then I was Yon Rha and I was doing all the killing and I couldn't save Aang from Azula, and it didn't even make any sense okay – and then I think I might have passed out and I basically just ran away from the situation, okay?" she blurted it all out exasperated.

He dropped his intense stare and Katara breathed a quiet sigh of relief. Zuko nodded back at her, "I know what you mean about the dreams not making any sense," he said in a small voice, and Katara swore she saw his left hand twitch upward as if to touch his scar before he caught himself and lowered it back down to his lap.

"It took me a long time to learn this, but trying to deal with this stuff on your own is a lot harder than having someone else to talk to about it," his eyes had a far-off look to them and Katara wondered if he was thinking about what he said to her in the crystal catacombs beneath Ba Sing Se. For so long after that day she had thought he was lying to her about the Fire Nation taking his mother, that he had just made it up to gain her trust before he went off with Azula, but now, after everything, she realized that everything he said was true, and that her original intuition was right – he had just been confused and lost.

"Zuko… I'm sorry for being so angry with you for so long about Ba Sing Se, even after you joined the group," he turned back toward her as she spoke, his eyes soft and surprised, "I had thought you tricked me and were trying to trick us all again, but now I see that it must have been a terribly difficult choice for you, whether to go with Azula or not… And, I'm sorry about your mother."

He scoffed lightly and shook his head, "you were right to be angry. I was angry too, I just wish I had figured out _why_ I was angry sooner…" he trailed off and his eyes glazed a bit before he spoke again, "you know, the kindness you showed me that day was one of the things that made me realize I could change. You were able to forgive me and actually listen to me when everyone else in my life just wanted to use me for something – well, other than my uncle, but at the time I had convinced myself that he was just with me because of family obligation…"

Katara didn't know how to respond, even though she had forgiven him it was like every day he'd been with the group she saw something new about him, and she realized how wrong she had been about him.

"About your nightmares," he said, looking her in the eye again, "I don't think your mother would be disappointed that you didn't kill Yon Rha. You honor her everyday by living on, by fighting this war, and by just waterbending too."

Katara felt tears pool in her eyes at his words. She knew all of that was true, and she had known it for years, she had just felt so guilty for living while her mother wasn't. But Zuko was right, she fought for her mother and for everyone else who has been lost to the war, and that was something to be proud of. Her mother might not have been a waterbender, but she died to protect the last waterbender and Katara thought of her every time she used her bending. She nodded at him and a few tears spilled over on to her cheeks.

Zuko hesitantly reached out and lightly brushed his hand over hers where they were clasped in her lap, before deciding differently and placing it back in his own lap. "Sorry, I uh, I'm new to this whole having friends thing, and you said no therapy, so that was uh, probably too much, sorry," he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

Katara chuckled slightly before reaching forward and grabbing his hand, "it's fine Zuko, you worry too much." He gave her a small smile in return.

She squeezed his hand lightly before letting go to wipe her fingertips across her cheeks and dry her tears. Her whole body felt lighter already and they hadn't even started meditating yet.

"Okay, so teach me how to meditate," she said with a newfound resolve.

"Well I usually used candles so that I'm not actually touching the fire I'm trying to bend, but since you dragged me out here with no warning," he smirked at her, "I'll just demonstrate this way," he lit a small fire in the palm of one of his hands and held it steadily in his lap. She rolled her eyes at his gentle teasing and continued listening. "So I close my eyes, and I focus my breathing to the fire, as I breathe in I imagine the flame getting smaller, and when I breathe out I imagine it gets bigger, until the fire is growing and depleting with each breathe and we move as one," he demonstrated a few times and Katara watched in awe as the small flame in his hand rose and fell with his chest, like a heartbeat.

"Wow, that's great. Although, I can't create water, so I can't make more of it in my hand…" she thought for a moment and felt the water beneath the dock sway idly with the tides, "oh! I could try just focusing on pushing and pulling the water that's already near me!"

She closed her eyes again and tried to focus on the water below her. She could feel it moving and she knew she could manipulate it easily if she just moved her hands, but she couldn't quite will the water to move from just her breath alone.

"Ugh, I think I'm too far away from it," she huffed.

"Uh, what, are you going to go underwater? It's the middle of the night," Zuko looked over at her skeptically.

"I don't have to go under the water, I can just go _on_ the water!" she stood up with realization.

She made a pushing motion with her arms and blew a strong gush of air out of her mouth to freeze a small patch of water on the ocean's surface right next to the pier, and jumped off to sit cross-legged on the new iceberg.

"Okay, I'll try again," she looked over, saw Zuko nod, and she closed her eyes. Already feeling the slow push and pull of the tide right beneath her she matched her breathing to its rhythm. Then she tested it further and tried to match the water to her breathing instead, willing the water to rise with every inhale, and fall with every exhale. She repeated this a few times before she heard Zuko cry out from the dock beside her.

"Alright, I think you've got the breathing down!" he said with a crack in his voice. When she looked over she saw that she had completely drenched his entire lower half by raising the level of the sea above the dock.

"Oops!" she leapt to her feet and quickly bent the cold water out of his pants, watching in mild curiosity as the fabric unstuck itself from his legs. "Sorry," she said with a shrug, "at least I'm getting it though!"

He made a noise of disgruntled agreement. "That's pretty much all you need to know, if you just focus on the water and your breathing it should help your thoughts clear naturally. Just, uh, maybe don't go so overboard with the breathing, you don't want to cause a tidal wave."

She flashed a smile at him, "good tip."

He smiled back before turning to go back to the house.

She felt a small stone of disappointment in her stomach when she realized he was leaving to go, "wait! Don't you uh, want to finish your meditation session?"

"You said fifteen minutes tops, remember?" he gave a gentle shrug.

"Yeah, but uh, you were sort of keeping me warm…" she was unsure where this sudden feeling of embarrassment came from, she shouldn't feel weird just asking him to hang out longer, and she cringed internally at her excuse about warmth.

She could just make out his eyebrows raising slightly, and the contemplation etched across his face before he ultimately sat back down at the end of the dock.

"Fine, but we can go to sleep soon?"

"Yup, promise," she nodded firmly and they both turned to face the horizon to focus on their own breathing.

There was silence other than the sound of lightly crashing waves, while the moon made a slow arc across the sky. Katara felt simultaneously lighter and more grounded with each breath. After what felt like hours, but what she guessed were only minutes, she felt the glow of Zuko's flame rise and fall with her own waves as their breaths and their elements moved in unison.

Fifteen minutes or so later Katara heard Zuko yawn loudly next to her. She looked over and saw him rub his eyes and turn toward her, his expression asking if they could be done now.

"Let's go," she nodded to him as she stood and hopped back onto the dock. She bent the small ice floe back into water to let it flow naturally, and they walked back to the house in a comfortable silence.

They paused for a moment outside her bedroom door before Katara pushed it open gently and said goodnight.

Zuko looked inside her darkened room briefly, "do you want me to light the torch in there?"

She wondered if he was really asking whether she expected to have a nightmare tonight. Thinking it over, she felt better than she had in days, but she had no control over her mind when she slept, _just in case,_ she thought to herself.

"Okay," she replied, hoping to come off as noncommittal.

He brushed past her to step into the room and with a quick jab of his arm, palm facing up, he lit the torch on the left side of her room, illuminating the whole space.

"Thanks," she said, looking up at him, "and thanks for the meditating, and the sort of therapy," she gave a small smile then hugged him around the waist with her face pressed against his chest.

He stiffened in shock and held his arms awkwardly out above her head.

"It's just a hug Zuko, we're a very huggy group, so you better get used to it," she laughed lightly at his discomfort.

"Hugs, apologies, and fighting to overthrow evil warlords, got it," he said with a hint of sarcasm as he lightly wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

"Shut up," she rolled her eyes and pulled back from their embrace. They both said goodnight and Zuko left for his room through their connected bathroom.

Katara laid down on her bed and pulled the covers up to her chest, the silk of the blanket not feeling as abrasive tonight, and she was grateful when sleep overcame her as soon as she closed her eyes.

-/\/\/\/\/\/\\-

* * *

 **A/N: Thanks for reading! I finished this one a little quicker than I anticipated, the last half just sort of spilled out all at once at like 2 am last night.**

 **I liked the idea of the Gaang running in to Chan and Ruon-Jian on Ember Island, I mean it does make sense that they'd still be on their summer vacation there, and we will see a bit more of them coming up. Also, I know the whole masquerade dance thing is a bit overdone, but I think it'll be a bit of fun anyway, so that'll be coming up soon too.**

 **I also liked the idea of Katara having some sort of coping mechanism to deal with her grief that would have resurfaced after facing Yon Rha so I wanted to explore that a bit here, and I really enjoyed writing the comparison between Aang's and Zuko's meditation techniques and explaining them to Katara. Of course, she's been more open with Zuko as well, so that plays a small part in her understanding his methods better too.**

 **I'm going to try and tackle the Ember Island players episode next chapter, I might end up splitting it into two chapters, but I'll see how it goes** **.**

 **8,240 words this time, a total of 28,537 so far!**

 **Thanks again for sticking around! Thoughts and comments are always greatly appreciated!**


	4. From the Enemy's Eyes

**In a New Light**

 **Chapter 4 – From the Enemy's Eyes**

-/\/\/\/\/\/\\-

The sun was high enough to filter through the paper window shade and cast an oblong grid-like shadow on the walls of Katara's room when she woke up groggily. She sat up and rubbed the sleep off her eyes, looking around, momentarily confused as to how it had gotten so bright out so quickly. It felt like she had only just gone to sleep, but turning to see the sun outside she realized it must have been more like ten hours. Faint grunting and whooshing sounds were coming from outside her window, she stood and stretched her arms above her head before sliding open the screen door to her balcony. Leaning on the railing she looked down to see Aang and Zuko going through some firebending sets in the courtyard; it was a mixture of punches and kicks that changed direction occasionally and seemed to have a steady rhythm to it. Katara felt a small surge of hope fill her chest, Aang was picking up firebending rather quickly, he looked like a natural moving in sync with Zuko. There was still hope of defeating the Fire Lord.

"That's looking really good Aang!" she raised her hand to cup her mouth and call down to him.

Aang stopped mid movement to look up and wave, "Hey Katara! You're awake! You've been sleeping forev-AH!" he yelped, ducking suddenly to avoid a fireball Zuko threw directly at his head.

"Pay attention!" Zuko barked at Aang who was now sheepishly holding his hands up in surrender.

Aang rushed out a quick apology and folded his hands into the Fire Nation salute "Sorry Sifu Hot-" Zuko cut him off again before he could continue.

"And you!" he turned to point up at Katara, "stop distracting my student!"

"You know, distractions are a good thing in practice, keeps the pupil on their toes," she called back with an air of haughtiness before playfully sticking out her tongue at him. She turned around and skipped back into her room before he could respond. Grabbing her comb, she headed into the bathroom to quickly style her hair into its, now familiar, Fire Nation fashion.

Looking herself over in the mirror she felt satisfied with her appearance, and even though she wasn't wearing her native colors or her traditional hair loopies, she looked more like herself than she had in a week or so. The slight bags that had been ever present under her eyes were much improved, and she felt good about herself. She had slept heavily and dreamlessly the night before and was glad for that change – she would have to make meditating a daily occurrence.

Downstairs she found Toph lounging on the couch absentmindedly petting Momo and eating some rhino jerky.

"Where are Sokka and Suki?" Katara asked, noticing the house seemed oddly quiet without Sokka's constant grumbling about their schedule.

"The lovebirds went into town to look for masks for the festival tomorrow," Toph replied with a shrug, "I was tired of their kissy noises and decided to stay here."

"Sokka is picking out our masks? Great, he's probably going to get me one shaped like a hog monkey or something else equally unattractive," Katara grumbled.

"Don't worry, I'm sure I'll like whichever mask you end up getting!" Toph replied with a smirk.

"Ha, ha, Toph," Katara mocked as she went to the pantry in the kitchen to grab so rhino jerky for herself, "you know those jokes don't work on me as well as they do on Sokka."

The earthbender gave another shrug, "still worth a shot."

"You want to go watch the guys practice?" Katara asked, moving back into the main living space, "it looks like Aang's firebending has really improved a lot."

"Better than sitting in here I guess," Toph said as she stood to follow Katara out into the courtyard.

"Hey, no, you guys can't be out here, no more distractions!" Zuko said with authority, when he saw the girls exit the house.

"Oh, lighten up, we're just going to watch," Katara said, brushing him off.

"Yeah Captain Angry Pants, we just wanna see how Aang's firebending is coming along," Toph said, sitting down with a huff on the far side of the courtyard under a shaded awning. "Besides, I want to make sure you aren't pushing him too hard, I wanna get some earthbending training in today too."

"Aww, more training?" Aang whined.

"It might be good to get some variety, you have been drilling only firebending for a couple weeks now," Zuko mused.

"What about waterbending too then? I haven't practiced waterbending in forever!" Aang asked hopefully.

"Earthbending first Twinkle Toes! You've had ages to master waterbending, we gotta focus on earth and fire now!" Toph yelled back.

"Fiiine," Aang resigned.

They watched them go through various sets and Katara was continually impressed with how natural it looked for Aang, all his movements looked smooth and sure. As they continued and moved on to more complex forms Katara found her attention gravitating more toward Zuko. It was humid and the constant fireballs being thrown around had really heated up the small arena so both boys had taken off their shirts. Once or twice she had to remind herself she was supposed to be watching their technique and not the way the sweat was glistening off Zuko's abs. Luckily, he didn't notice her occasional staring, in fact he seemed to have forgotten they were there at all. His eyes were narrowed with an intense focus that Katara was now familiar with, it was as if every fiber of his being was focused solely on the task at hand as he put his all into each movement.

Aang, on the other hand, did seem to be somewhat distracted by Katara's presence, and would look to see if she had been watching once he finished another set successfully. She nodded and smiled with enthusiasm each time, wanting to reward him for his hard work, but also not wanting to speak aloud and alert Zuko to Aang's lapses in attention. After one particularly long set Katara had become mildly entranced by the way Zuko flicked his head slightly to get his sweat dampened hair out of his eyes, when Aang looked over at her proudly to show off that he had completed the complicated positions. She snapped back to attention and gave him a big thumbs up and hoped he hadn't seen her distraction. She felt a little silly that she didn't want Aang to know she thought Zuko had a nice body - just because she knows Aang has a crush on her doesn't mean she can't objectively acknowledge an attractive male body, right? Maybe she should consult Suki about it.

They must have watched the boys practice for at least another two hours before Sokka and Suki returned.

"You guys are not going to believe this!" Sokka said, running in to the courtyard enthusiastically, "there's a play about us."

He pulled out a large poster from a pocket inside his vest and read off its description. It sounded like a lot of the people they had run into on their journey since finding Aang had told people about their encounters with the Avatar.

"Brought to you by the critically acclaimed Ember Island Players," Suki finished reading.

"Ugh, my mother used to take us to see them," Zuko said slouching, wiping some of the sweat from his brow with a towel "they used to butcher Love Amongst the Dragons every year."

Katara had no idea what Love Amongst the Dragons was, but judging by Zuko's aversion to this acting troupe she wasn't too enthusiastic about seeing a parody of their own lives.

"Sokka, do you really think it's a good idea to attend a play about ourselves?" she asked skeptically.

"Come on, a day at the theater!? This is the kind of wacky time-wasting nonsense I've been missing!" Sokka replied with a huge shit-eating grin.

Katara narrowed her eyes in mild annoyance, "but aren't we doing enough 'time-wasting nonsense' already by going to that festival tomorrow – wasn't that the whole reason you guys went in to town in the first place?"

"Yeah but Katara, the play is at _night_ and the festival tomorrow is also, at _night,_ and when do Aang and Zuko practice firebending? During the _day,_ " he responded pointedly, looking at Zuko for reassurance as he spoke, "besides, I checked the schedule and now that we have a place in the Fire Nation to stay until the comet comes, our evenings are pretty much free." He stared back at her, his shit-eating grin still plastered to his face.

She sighed, unable to come up with a good counter argument, "Zuko, as Aang's firebending master, what do you think?"

Zuko paused for a moment, surprised that his input was going to be the deciding factor, "Sokka's right, we never train at night, and we just finished for today anyway since Toph wanted to work on some earthbending," he said thinking it over rationally, "so yeah, I guess we can go to the stupid play."

"Woohoo, oh yeah! This is gonna be awesome, a whole play about all the cool stuff we've done!" Aang said jumping up enthusiastically.

"Yeah, yeah don't get too excited over there, we've still got training to do before we leave, and we gotta start now if we want to finish in time," Toph said sternly.

Aang groaned in protest and stayed outside with Toph while the rest of the group headed back into the house.

"So, did you guys find some good masks for us?" Katara asked as she laid across one of the cushy chairs in the living room.

"Oh yeah we were able to find one for everybody, I think they're going to work well!" Suki said, running over the get a bag that had been left by the front door. "We got these two matching orange and yellow ones for me and Sokka, this smiling hog monkey one for Aang, and then for Toph, Sokka thought she would like this black ribbon, but I'm not sure if she's really going to appreciate it…" Suki held out a thick black ribbon that was likely meant to be a belt rather than a mask of any kind.

"Come on, she's gonna love it! She can tie it around her eyes and it'll be like she's the Blind Bandit again! She's gonna love freaking people out all night, they'll be so confused how she's getting around blindfolded!" Sokka said enthusiastically.

"But Sokka, won't that draw a lot of attention to us – a girl in a blindfold acting like she can see perfectly?" Katara asked.

"You worry too much sis, it'll be fine, and she'll have fun," Sokka said unconvincingly, "besides we didn't get any backups so… it's this or nothing."

Katara sighed in resignation, "fine, well, what did you get me?"

"We found this black one that had little blue jewels in the corners of the eyes for you, and then this one for Zuko," Sokka said holding out the two masks to them.

Unlike Aang's mask that would cover his whole face, Katara's mask would just cover the area around her eyes and the bridge of her nose. It was jet black leather with a thin woven gold trim, and three small blue stones on the corner of the left eye – it was actually quite subtle and pretty. Zuko's mask, however, was gaudy and practically exploding with color. It was about twice the size of Katara's, but would still leave his mouth free to talk; the top and bottom curved away from the middle, into four points at the corners of the mask, and it had stripes of different colors all coming from the center, at the nose.

"This was the only one we could find that would hide your scar," Sokka said, still holding out the mask to Zuko.

Zuko's eyes narrowed as he took the mask begrudgingly, "it's going to look like a butterfly exploded on my face," he said through gritted teeth.

"I knew he wasn't going to take it well…" Suki muttered under her breath.

"It does sort of look like a giant flower with horns," Katara said, trying to stifle a laugh.

"Agh, I don't even understand why I have to go to this stupid thing! I've just agreed to go to the play tonight, can't that be enough!" he said, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Nope! Being a part of the group means participating in all the wacky group shenanigans!" Sokka said with a grin.

Zuko let out another groan and huffed off upstairs mumbling under his breath, "stupid…team avatar…destiny…shenanigans…"

"You think he's really mad?" Suki asked.

"Nah, he'll come around," Sokka replied, unphased.

Katara contemplated following Zuko upstairs to see if he was okay, she knew he could be sensitive about his scar and wasn't sure if Sokka had hit a sore spot with him or not. Remembering his surprise at her apology about teasing two nights ago, _'It wasn't a big deal… I get mad easily anyway,'_ she ultimately decided against it. She told him she would try and cut back on the apologies, so she decided to just fix herself a late lunch and let him be. Even if it was nagging in the back of her mind for the rest of the afternoon.

\- \/\ -

At sunset Aang and Toph came back inside to wash up and get ready for the play – or in Toph's case, pester the others while they got ready. Katara and Suki had gotten ready early and were chatting in the kitchen waiting for the boys and Toph to come back downstairs.

"Okay, I've been dying to ask, and I know I probably shouldn't," Suki said, leaning in slightly, "but what's going on with you and Zuko?" her voice lowered to a whisper by the end of her question.

"Uh, what?" Katara asked, dumfounded.

"Come on, I figured you wouldn't want Sokka to know, so I didn't say anything, but I know you guys snuck off in the middle of the night last night, so come on, what's up?" the older girl continued giddily.

"Oh, no. No," Katara protested, taken aback, "he just offered to help teach me some meditation techniques, and I thought it would be a good idea for me to learn by the water so we went down to the beach. It was purely educational."

"That's it?" Suki asked disappointed. "But, when we came back earlier today you were totally drooling over him in the courtyard," she said more to herself than to Katara, as if she had a piece of evidence that wasn't adding up.

At this Katara blushed slightly, she had been so sure no one had noticed her staring. "Uh, no, I mean, I was just looking, and it was so hot out…" she trailed off, hoping she was coming off less embarrassed than she felt.

"Katara don't worry! I didn't mean to embarrass you," Suki said with a smile, "Zuko is hot, I would have been staring too! I just thought because of what I saw last night that something was going on."

"Oh, well, nope," Katara said, relaxing a little, "honestly I was just sort of enjoying the view, I don't think I was even doing it consciously…"

Suki giggled, "I know what you mean," and Katara giggled in return. Katara hadn't really ever been able to have girl talk before. There hadn't even been another girl to talk to until Toph came around, and she barely even counted as a girl in this capacity.

"But seriously, nothing's happening there?" Suki asked again once their laughter had subsided, "I mean you guys have actually seemed close since you came back from your little field trip together."

Katara shook her head, "he has been surprisingly good to talk to but honestly, I don't think I could think of anybody like that right now. I can't seem to think about much of anything other than making sure we're ready for whatever this war throws at us next. I don't know how you and Sokka do it," Katara replied pensively.

Suki nodded in understanding, "We got lucky, it just sort of happened for us. It felt natural and we just went with it. But you're right, the war has definitely interfered with our relationship, and it hasn't all been easy," she continued, contemplating, "I think that's why your brother has been pushing all these fun activities though – it gives us a chance to just have fun and feel like regular teenagers for once."

"Yeah, I know I was against it yesterday, but after clearing my head last night I sort of realized I need to take things more one step at a time. We're all doing everything we can to help Aang prepare, and taking a little time off to relax will probably be better for everyone's sanity."

"Speaking of everyone, what is taking them so long?" Suki asked, looking around, "we have to go soon."

They went upstairs to hear Toph yelling from Aang's room about being a slowpoke. Suki decided to check her and Sokka's room to see how he was coming along, leaving Katara to check on Zuko.

She knocked lightly on his door and called his name. After a moment with no response she opened his door slightly to peer inside. The smell hit her first, it was like a wet polar bear dog had fallen asleep in the sun, then she saw Zuko sprawled out face down on his bed, still wearing just his training pants from earlier. He must have fallen asleep without washing up immediately after he came upstairs.

Covering her nose and mouth, she walked over to him and poked him lightly with two fingers. "Zuko… Zuko we have to leave for the play…" she poked him a few more times before raising her voice some more, and still got no response. "Okay fine, we'll do this the hard way, but just so you know, I tried to be nice first."

She walked over to the bathroom and pulled some water from the wash basin, swirling it around in front of her as she walked back to Zuko's bed. She raised the large globe of water above her head and in one swift movement brought it down to douse his whole body, soaking his bedsheets as well.

"AAH!" Zuko jumped up and twisted in the air to hold his fists out in a bending position toward Katara, his hair plastered to his face and his eyes wild. Once his eyes focused and he saw Katara standing in this middle of his room struggling to stifle laughter his eyes narrowed to glare at her harshly, "what did we say about surprise attacks!?"

"I didn't have a choice! I tried to wake you up and you just laid there like a dead seal! And you smelled like one too, now you're awake _and_ clean…so, you're welcome," she said with her hands on her hips.

His glare softened somewhat, "okay fine, but could you at least dry me off now?" he asked as he tried to push his slick hair off his eyes.

"Right, sorry," she bent her knees and elbows and waved her hands smoothly to stream the water out of his pants, his hair and his bed, leaving him dry but still somewhat annoyed.

"Why are you so chipper about going to this thing anyway? I thought yesterday you agreed with me that would should focus everything on training?" he asked as he stood to grab a shirt and a vest from his drawer.

Katara shrugged, "well after we meditated last night it really cleared my head, and I kind of realized that some distractions might be good for all of us. What you said about honoring my mom by fighting was true, but I also don't think it's good for me to be solely focused on training all the time, we all need some breaks some times."

He stared at her for a moment while he tied his belt around his vest, then shook his head slightly and smiled to himself.

"What?" she asked defensively, unsure if he was going to mock her somehow.

"It's just that I've never really taken a break in my life, but somehow, everything you just said made a lot of sense," he said, shaking his head again.

"Of course, it made sense," she put her hands back on her hips and stuck her chin up sarcastically, "I'm very smart."

Zuko scoffed and rolled his eyes then threw his cloak around his shoulders before heading to the door, "alright, let's go distract ourselves with some terrible acting."

\- \/\ -

The theater was just past the far end of town perched on one of the seaside cliffs, and there was quite a crowd lined up to pick up tickets. There was a large sign posted just before the box office that read: "Tonight's performance of _The Boy in the Iceberg_ contains explicit content – no guests under the age of 13 allowed."

Katara's face scrunched up in confusion, "how explicit can it really be? Most of the time we've been travelling half of us have been under thirteen! If we could handle it in real life surely an audience can handle seeing it onstage?"

"Ugh, that is not a good sign," Zuko groaned as he read over the posting, "this is why they always ruined Love Amongst the Dragons, they made everything way raunchier than it was in the books, but the audience loved it so they just kept making it worse and worse every year."

"But how are they even going to do that with us? How would they possibly make us fighting a war raunchy?" Katara asked, still confused.

"I guess we'll find out…" Zuko said with a resigned sigh.

"Six tickets please, my good sir!" Sokka said in his over-pronounced Wang Fire voice when he reached the ticket window.

"None under thirteen. Those two will have to sit it out," the man behind the counter gestured to Aang and Toph.

"Hey, I am thirteen!" Aang lied as he bounced up to the counter, puffing out his chest.

"And, as you can see, I'm blind, so I won't be able to see what's going on anyway. Please don't make me stay outside all by myself, I could get lost!" Toph said in her faux helpless voice.

"Alright fine, but the only six seats I have together are all the way in the back of the theater - and no discount for blind kids," the man said, sliding the tickets through the slot in the window.

"We'll take them!" Sokka said, his voice still slightly too loud.

"Sokka, you know you don't have to do the voice all the time right? You just need to remember to use the fake name?" Aang asked with a laugh.

"It's all about staying in character, young Aang," Sokka put his arm around Aang's shoulders, his voice unchanging.

They found their way to their viewing box, and while it was far from the stage it was at least private, so they'd be able to chat freely if they wanted to. Katara sat in the front row next to Toph, and Aang was about to sit next to her when Zuko came in suddenly from the other side to sit next to her instead. Aang got a little upset at not being to sit next to Katara and she felt guilty for not saying anything. She had seen that he meant to sit down next to her first, but she thought if she made a point to agree with him and let Aang sit next to her that he might read into it too much, and she was trying her best not to indulge his crush in any way possible. Besides, she was sort of looking forward to Zuko's inevitable snarky commentary.

They had sat down just in time because the play started only a few moments later. When the curtains opened Katara's mouth fell open at what she saw, it was very clearly her and her brother in a canoe in the south pole – it really looked just like that all those months ago. She felt Sokka's hand on her shoulder and she turned around to see that he was just as excited as she was as he pointed between them and then back toward the actors onstage.

And then the actors started talking. Sokka's actor was constantly going on about food and how empty his life was because his stomach was empty, and Katara's actress couldn't stop moaning about hope and fulfilment. And why did they have to make her winter coat so low cut and with no leggings, that is not how she wears it, - it's not even practical!

"Well that's just silly, I don't sound like that," Katara said after the actress playing her had given a particularly over dramatic monologue about hope. Sokka and Suki laughed from behind her.

"Oh man, this writer's a genius!" Toph said, laughing as well.

Katara slumped slightly in her chair and tried to ignore her annoyance. Sure, she tried to stay positive, and she did have hope, but she wasn't some big pathetic crybaby. _They just wrote it like this to make it more entertaining,_ she assured herself.

Katara's actress cried even more when she broke Aang out of the iceberg, but Katara was too distracted by the actress playing Aang to really notice. She felt a little bad, he had been so excited to come and see this play, and now all his adventures were going to be played out by this random lady. It probably wasn't doing a lot of good for his confidence.

When the actors playing Zuko and his uncle came onstage it took all of Katara's willpower not to immediately burst into laughter. The Zuko actor was annoyed with everything and constantly yelling about regaining his honor – it was exactly how she remembered him from back then.

"They make me look totally stiff and humorless," Zuko said.

"Actually, I think that actor is pretty spot on," Katara responded smugly.

"How could you say that?" he turned toward her with disbelief.

"How could you say that!?" the Zuko actor yelled to his stage uncle just a moment later. Next to Katara, actual Zuko slumped down further in his seat and avoided looking at her while she kept her smug gaze on him and snickered to herself.

For the most part, the actual events the play showed were accurate, but the characterization was embarrassing all around. Sokka was a complete buffoon, Aang was far too immature and way more feminine than he had ever been in real life, and Katara's actress spent every moment either flaunting her breasts or making very sexual sounding moaning cries.

The group onstage met up with Jet and the freedom fighters and actress Katara was all over actor Jet. Katara was getting increasingly more uncomfortable as the scene went on. So far, the play had shown a lot of things that didn't happen, but they also had known about a lot of things that no one else had been around for. As far as she knew, no one but her, Sokka, and Aang knew exactly how they had found him in the iceberg, sure they had told their village, but other than that she had thought it was fairly secret. And if the play writers had known about that, then it was possible they knew that she had hooked up with Jet. Katara was really hoping this wasn't going to be one of the raunchy moments Zuko had mentioned.

Actress Katara and actor Jet were snuggled up against each other as he used one of his sword hooks to lift them into the sky as he flooded the Fire Nation Colony. "Oh Jet, you're so bad!" the actress exclaimed as she snuggled in closer to the wild looking Jet actor. Katara mentally curled into herself and did her best to ignore Toph's laughing as the scene faded to black. Katara was momentarily relieved it was over, until the lights came back up and the scene was set inside Jet's treehouse, and a new sense of dread spread over Katara's entire body.

"Jet, the way you took charge and killed all those Fire Nation people was so hot! It just gave me so much hope!" actress Katara said as she flung herself toward the now shirtless actor Jet.

"I know baby – I know it made you want me!"

"Jet, we don't have much time left together! I want to show you how much you mean to me!" The actress knelt down on her knees and started to stroke the actor's chest before she leaned in closer and began to lick his abs. Katara curled her legs up onto the seat and covered her eyes to watch from between her fingers; she was absolutely mortified.

"Wow, Water Tribe girls sure are kinky!" actor Jet exclaimed as he gave the audience a dramatic wink and the scene faded to black again.

Katara stayed still hiding behind her hands, hoping everyone would ignore her – even Toph seemed too shocked for words now.

"Katara, you didn't actually do that when you were in Jet's tent that night, did you?" Sokka said leaning down from his seat behind her.

She lifted her head from her hands and scanned everyone's faces, Sokka and Zuko both looked shocked and mildly disgusted, while Aang looked mostly hurt and confused.

"Of course not!" she snapped back. All of their faces softened somewhat and she decided that they didn't need to know that she had in fact kissed Jet quite a bit that night, and she did run her hands over his abs a few times – but she definitely didn't lick them, and she didn't go on and on about how 'bad' he was.

Luckily her shame didn't stay the center of attention for long as the play moved forward and made an ill-timed joke about pickled fish right after actor Sokka had to say goodbye to actress Yue when she became the moon spirit. Sokka and Suki got into small fight after he shushed her for talking during all of the scenes with Yue, and Katara was just glad that no one was asking her anymore questions about Jet.

The first act ended and Aang let out a loud groan as the actress playing him flopped around clumsily in her ocean spirit costume. Everyone except for Toph was in a bad mood as they left their box seats and headed out into the lobby for the first intermission.

They all found their way to a private balcony and sat on the staircase just outside the door in a communal silence. The tension in the air was thick, no one wanted to speak first, hoping that no one would bring up any one of the horrible things they had just seen about themselves.

"So far, this intermission is the best part of the play," Zuko said, breaking the silence. Katara nodded from where she was sitting on the step next to him; she was sure that was something they could all agree with.

His comment seemed to open the floodgates and everyone started complaining about their various portrayals, Sokka was upset because he could tell jokes about more than just meat, Aang was angry that everyone was going to think he was a girl, and Toph was just making it all worse by rubbing it in.

"Relax Aang, they're not accurate portrayals, it's not like I'm a preachy crybaby who can't resist giving over-emotional speeches about hope all the time!" Katara said, coming off more confident than she felt. There was a slight pause after she finished talking where everyone just stared at her, "…what?"

"Yeah… that's not you at all," Aang said sarcastically as he sat down at the bottom of the staircase. Katara sat back slightly dejected, she knew she was usually the one to try and cheer everyone up when they were down, but she wasn't as bad as that actress in the play, at least she didn't think so…

"Listen friends, it's obvious that the playwright did his research," Toph said, crossing her arms, "I know it must hurt, but what you're seeing up there on that stage, is the truth."

Everyone gave a collective groan, not in the mood for Toph's deprecating humor. After sitting in silence for another few minutes they all reluctantly filed back in to the theater for the second act.

Toph's character was introduced almost immediately, and to everyone's surprise, she was thrilled that the playwright had chosen to portray her as a huge muscular man who would scream in the other actors faces in order to 'see' them. It actually was the best part about the play so far – was that really how the Fire Nation though Toph was able to get around so well even though she was blind?

The play seemed to drag on and on with a continuation of bad jokes about Zuko's hair and Katara's actress heaving her chest dramatically at every moment. Katara wasn't even that annoyed about it anymore, she was just sort of bored, she figured it couldn't really get much worse than the Fire Nation thinking she liked to slobber all over the guys she liked.

The story moved forward to Ba Sing Se and Jet's character came back, this time looking even more wild than before. He started screaming about destroying everything in the name of the Earth King and then the actor clumsily crawled under a falling rock. Katara had mixed feelings about Jet, but she still felt a surge of anger spark in her to see him portrayed like this when he gave his life trying to protect Aang. None of these people in the audience were ever going to think of him as anything other than some crazy Earth Kingdom orphan.

"Did Jet just die?" Zuko asked skeptically, leaning back toward Sokka. Katara glanced over at Zuko momentarily, she didn't know that Zuko had ever met Jet.

"You know, it was really unclear," Sokka replied nonchalantly. It wasn't unclear to Katara however, she remembered trying to heal him, and being able to feel how broken he was inside, even if she had had hours to heal him, she didn't think she would have been able to save him. She wondered if Sokka really didn't know that Jet couldn't have survived, or if he just didn't want to explain it to Zuko in that moment.

The scene changed again to show Katara and Zuko's actors in the crystal catacombs. Katara began to feel uneasy again, she had only given vague details to the group of what she and Zuko had talked about while they were imprisoned together, and she felt sure that there was no way whoever wrote this stupid play would know the truth, but the anticipation of waiting for their, no doubt ridiculous, interpretation was making her nauseous.

"I have to admit Prince Zuko, I really find you attractive!" the actress claimed, squishing her hands into her chest. Katara's body stiffened and her conversation with Suki from earlier that day flashed through her mind, suddenly horrified that the play was both right and wrong at the same time. That wasn't what she was thinking when she offered to heal his scar, but she had been staring at his body just a few hours ago. She tried to stay as still as possible in the hopes that she could play this off as crazy talk later.

"You don't have to make fun of me!" actor Zuko huffed dramatically. Katara cringed even more, that was pretty close to what he said to her that day. She wondered if this was equally as horrible for him to watch as it was for her.

"But I mean it! I've had eyes for you since the day you first captured me!" the actress Katara continued. She became suddenly aware of how close she and Zuko had been sitting and they both shifted away from each other in unison. Katara silently prayed that the actors would just stop talking now and move on to the next scene, she wasn't sure how much more of this she could bear.

"Wait! I thought you were the Avatar's girl!" stage Zuko exclaimed. _Agh, how can it possibly just keep getting worse!?_ Katara thought to herself as she curled her knees up under her chin, hoping that maybe if she made herself smaller she could disappear and not have to listen to this anymore.

"Ah haha, the Avatar? Why, he's like a little brother to me! I certainly don't think of him in a romantic way!" the actress onstage laughed forcibly, "besides, how could he ever find out about this!?" Katara's actress snuggled close to the Zuko actor and they promptly began making out very sloppily. Katara covered her eyes again and reluctantly peeked out to see the actors onstage had run behind the small crystal bench they had been sitting on and they began taking off each other's clothes so that the bench was the only thing covering them. The audience was whooping and hollering as the two actors onstage began making very explicit moaning and grunting noises. Unable to watch anymore Katara cautiously looked over at Zuko next to her who was in complete shock, his eyes were wider than she'd ever seen them and his mouth hung open limply.

"Oh Zuko, your fire is so hot inside me!" stage Katara gasped between dramatic moans, followed by more cheers from the audience.

"What… the fuck…" Zuko whispered to himself, and Katara almost burst into hysterical laughter. It was so horrifying that it was almost funny.

Toph nudged Katara in the side with her elbow, "if you're really that loud in bed, warn me before you ever sleep with anyone so I can make sure to shove some extra dirt in my ears. I never wanna hear that again."

Katara turned toward her, shocked that the little earthbender was still having a good time with this. She slapped her across the shoulder, "not funny Toph… I never want to hear that again either…"

Finally, the scene changed again to show Zuko making his decision between going with Azula or Iroh, and Katara slowly uncurled herself from her cocoon-like position, she was interested to see how this moment had happened. After debating between Azula and Iroh the stage Zuko crossed over to his uncle and shoved him to the ground.

"I hate you Uncle! You smell, and I hate you for all time!" the Zuko actor yelled with a mediocre attempt at passion.

Katara turned toward Zuko, who was leaning his chin on the railing in front of their seats with disdain, "you didn't really say that did you?" she asked.

"I might as well have," he turned away slightly, sounding defeated. He rarely spoke about what happened with his uncle after Ba Sing Se and she wondered if he had ever had a chance to see him again after that. She thought maybe he had been imprisoned for his crimes, but there was no mention of him when Zuko and Sokka had come back from the Boiling Rock with her dad and Suki. A thought struck her suddenly and horror coursed through her as she considered the possibility that Ozai may have had him executed. She glanced over at Zuko again and saw that he was still staring straight ahead with a brooding look that she thought had just a hint of shame twisted up in it. But she saw no grief in his expression, only regret, and she felt better that maybe Ozai had just chosen to imprison Iroh somewhere a little closer to home instead.

The play moved forward and Katara was pleased to see that she wasn't the only one being portrayed as a floozy. Ty Lee's character was constantly detaining her enemies by either kissing them or pressing her chest against them and winking. She wasn't making overtly sexual moans all the time like Katara's character was, but at she took some comfort in knowing she wasn't the only one being ridiculously objectified in this thing. Then Azula's actress threw a thin blue ribbon toward the woman playing Aang, who then collapsed and the defeat of the Avatar was declared. The audience cheered and got to its feet in excitement. Katara wasn't sure what was worse, watching their greatest failures played so badly out in front of them, or the fact that every single person in the room was so thrilled to see them fail.

The curtain fell again and the group slowly shuffled out of their seats for the second intermission. Upon standing Katara realized that Aang wasn't in their viewing box anymore. She looked around briefly before leaving back to the lobby to see everyone else leaning against a wall. It must have been hard for him to watch those last few scenes, he was so torn up about losing in Ba Sing Se, she could only imagine what it must be like to have to watch your enemies parody your biggest failure.

"Does anyone know where Aang went?" she asked, approaching her friends.

"He left to get me fire gummies like ten minutes ago, and I'm still waiting!" Sokka answered with a grunt of annoyance.

So, he hadn't seen the end of the act… It was unlike him to just leave like that unless something had upset him, and if it wasn't his defeat at Ba Sing Se that had bothered him then… it must have been the scene with Katara and Zuko in the catacombs. She winced internally, she was going to have to go talk to him, and it was going to be extremely awkward.

"I'm going to go check outside" she told the group as she headed for the balcony they all had been lounging in during the first intermission.

As she walked over she began to rehearse some things to say. _"It's just a play… I'm sorry you had to see that – I'm sorry we all had to see that… Of course, it wasn't real, Zuko and I just talked when we were down there… We should all just forget about it…"_ She began to get lost about how she would continue on after that, she was sure the reason he was going to be upset was because of his feelings for her and the idea of her and Zuko being so forcefully shoved in his face would probably make him question her feelings. But she _did_ want Aang to question her feelings, because she has no clue what her feelings even are, and she sincerely hoped he wasn't just assuming what she wants. How on earth was she supposed to talk to him about that, they'd never even talked about the kiss during the invasion, and this was exactly the reason why she wanted to avoid the conversation - it was bound to make things weird when there are much more important things going on.

She took a deep breath to calm her swirling thoughts before she slid open the door to the balcony. Aang was facing away from her, leaning his elbows on the wooden railing and looking out toward the sea. He looked so young and small with the vast sky and ocean stretching out beyond him; Katara could almost see the weight of it all slumped onto his shoulders. She wished desperately that she could ease that burden, that she could make at least one of his problems easier. This play had brought up so many things from the past year that had caused him pain, she herself was feeling more overwhelmed with regret, fear and embarrassment than she thought possible, and it could only be worse for him – he's the crux of the world. But she knew in her bones that however this was going to go, she was going to make it worse; if this conversation was finally going to happen, she had to be honest, she had to be fair with him.

She stepped forward with her arms crossed over her chest from the chill in the air, "are you alright?" she asked carefully.

"No, I'm not! I hate this play!" he responded immediately and forcefully, words tumbling out of his mouth fast, as he tore the ridiculous hat off his head and allowed his arrow to show proudly.

"I know it's upsetting, but it sounds like you're overreacting," she said, hoping to placate him.

"Overreacting!? If I hadn't blocked my chakra I'd probably be in the Avatar State right now!" he yelled exasperated.

Katara leaned forward on the railing, mirroring Aang's position, and paused for a moment, contemplating how to best move forward to console him. "Are you sure there's no way you can unblock it?"

"Agh, no! I mean… I don't know, I don't think so… you just, you can't understand!" he practically spat the words at her causing her to recoil slightly as hurt stung through her chest. She had never heard him sound so distraught. She wanted to retort back in anger, tell him that of course she could understand, if he would just talk to her, but she thought better of it. Yelling at him would only make it worse. He took a deep breath and spoke again after a moment, this time much calmer, "I'm sorry… it's just, to unblock the chakra I'd have to give something up, and I'm not sure if I can do it. And the last time I tried it worked, but then Azula shot me down and I nearly died… I don't know, maybe it was a sign that I'm not meant to open all my chakras…"

Katara stayed quiet, not wanting to vocalize her disagreement. The fact that he was able to free all his chakras and give up whatever it was that he didn't want to relinquish was evidence enough to her that it was possible for him to still go in to the Avatar State. Azula shooting him down is just what Azula does, it doesn't mean he should stop trying. But she knew that telling him that now, after everything they'd seen and felt tonight, wouldn't be a good idea, he needs someone to listen to him, not someone to tell him what to do.

They stayed quiet for a bit, the silence not as hostile as it was a few moments ago, before Aang spoke again, "Katara, did you really mean what you said in there?" he asked almost shyly.

 _Uh oh,_ she thought, _please don't be going where I think this is going._ All the talk about the Avatar State and chakras had made her think that her original inklings about what had made him upset were wrong, and that she might actually get out of having to talk about her feelings for now.

"In where?" she replied, feigning aloofness, "what are you talking about?"

"Onstage… when you said I was just like a… like a brother to you, and you didn't have feelings for me," he looked at her with confusion and just a slight hint of hope.

"I didn't say that, an actor said that," she replied, not answering his true question. His directness had surprised her, and his phrasing made her stomach sink slightly, ' _did you mean what you said… that you didn't have feelings for me,'_ he _had_ been assuming her feelings after all.

"But it's true isn't it," he said, unable to look at her, "we kissed at the invasion, and I thought we were gonna be together… but we're not." The sadness she heard in his tone and felt in his eyes made her heart ache. She wanted so badly to have an answer for him, to know definitively how she felt and why she couldn't just jump into his arms right now and make him happy. There was such a strong urge inside her to hold him tightly and tell him it was going to be okay, that maybe after everything was over she could sort out her feelings and give him what he wanted. She felt this incredible fondness for him and she knew she's connected to him in a way she's never been connected to anyone before, but everything felt too muddled. There was enough uncertainty in her mind that she knew giving him any hope of a future right now would be a mistake.

"Aang… I don't know," she said, unsure how to explain everything rushing around in her head.

"Why don't you know?" he asked, almost demanding.

"Because, we're in the middle of a war, and we have other things to worry about, and this isn't the right time…" she hoped that the whittled down basics of her thoughts would be enough to satisfy his questions.

"Well, when is the right time?" he looked at her with wide eyes. He could be so mature and understanding, but his question was one that came from the child in him. From someone who was only listening to the words of what she was saying, rather than their meaning, someone who hadn't learned yet that matters of feeling don't always have a concrete answer.

"Aang, I'm sorry, but right now, I'm just a little confused," she pulled on her hair anxiously and looked down, running out of ways to turn him down politely.

With her eyes downcast, avoiding his gaze, she didn't realize he was leaning in until his lips were on hers. The kiss was different than during the invasion, then his determination and confidence had made her feel special and desirable, she had been shocked by the suddenness of it, but it hadn't been entirely unwelcome, but now she could feel only his cold desperation, like this kiss was his one last hope to fix everything that had gone wrong with the night, and she felt almost ashamed at how gross it made her feel. Her eyes opened wide in shock and she jumped back immediately, "I just said I was confused!" Anger was flaring inside her, but she stole herself for a moment, not wanting him to see how much he had truly upset her, "I'm going inside," she said with finality and she sped up the stairs and down the hall toward the main lobby.

She was practically running down the hall with her arms still crossed over her chest when she heard Zuko and Toph's voices around the corner. She slowed down to catch her breath and form her face into a more neutral expression.

"Agh, not cool Toph!" Zuko yelled loud enough for Katara to hear clearly. His exasperation was followed by the sounds of Toph's laughter and then receding footsteps as she presumably went back into the theater to her seat.

Sensing that whatever conversation she heard had just ended, Katara turned the corner to see Zuko leaning on the railing that overlooked the main lobby area. He huffed loudly and pulled the hood of his cloak dramatically over his head to cover his face again. It looked like it wasn't a good night for anyone.

Hoping whatever Toph had said to him was less uncomfortable to deal with than running away from Aang like a child, she crossed over to where he was leaning to ask if he was okay. Before she could say anything, he turned to look at her, and his brow furrowed as he looked over her face.

"Are you alright, you seem… weird," it seemed like he had been asking her that a lot the last few days, and to her surprise he had made her feel better every single time. Unsure how to even begin explaining what had just happened with Aang she decided to try and pretend like everything was alright, so she just nodded noncommittally.

The flames lighting the sconces in the lobby dimmed then flared back up to indicate that the intermission was almost over and it was the perfect excuse not to talk any more about her feelings tonight. Realizing Aang would have seen the dimming too and be on his way back to their seats, she quickly grabbed Zuko's hand and pulled him toward the entrance of their viewing box, "time to go back!" she tried to sound enthusiastic, but was sure it just came off as flustered.

He looked her up and down as she pulled him across the walkway, "uh, seriously, are you okay?"

"Yup, great!" she nodded vigorously as she opened the curtain and sat down in their seats, "just excited for the show to be over!"

He sat down next to her, his face still screwed up in disbelief and slight concern, "okay, but…" he trailed off before he could finish whatever he was going to say or ask because the curtain onstage began to rise and the crowd around them roared to life again.

As the play started up again she felt herself slip into a vacant stare. The actors were moving and talking across the stage and she barely registered any of it. The play was decidedly better when she wasn't paying any attention to it. When the scene shifted to show Aang and Katara right before the invasion she cast her eyes aside and tried her best to ignore anything and everything they were saying. Whatever they showed up there wasn't what happened and she was tired of letting it affect her; tired of it affecting everyone else too.

Once the invasion was over and the play showed their version of Zuko joining the group the stage went dark and Katara's eyes refocused and she relaxed a little. Sokka made a comment that the play must be over and he made to get up when the stage lit up again to show Fire Lord Ozai preparing for the comet to arrive. The now familiar feeling of play related dread sunk into Katara's stomach as she realized that the playwright planned to show them how he thought the war was going to end.

It was awful. Nothing up until this point had prepared her for the final minutes of the play. Zuko went up against Azula and was killed rather quickly, and to their horror the crowd ate it up, they were relishing in the idea of Zuko's death. Before any of them could even process it, the scene changed again to show Aang confronting Ozai, and Aang too was consumed in a flurry of flames. The Fire Lord stood and declared the war over and the world as his, then the crowd stood to give a standing ovation. They had been so naïve to think that because Aang was the main character that he would prevail in the end, or that the playwrights had even been aiming for accuracy of events. The whole thing had just been propaganda, _really effective_ propaganda, that not only riled up all of the Fire Nation citizens in attendance, but that succeeded in terrifying Aang's entire group.

They all sat there in silence, their bodies frozen in their seats for who knows how long. It was surreal to Katara, watching her friends die, feeling the excitement of the audience around her as those friends died, and knowing that this is how the Fire Nation must really see her and her friends. They really didn't know any better than to believe everything they had ever been told about the rest of the world. She sat rigid, fearing that if she moved one of the theater goers would suddenly see her and kill her on the spot. Eventually, once most of the people had filed out of the room she began to feel uncomfortable just doing nothing.

"Um, we should go," she said monotonously.

As if knocked out of their haze everyone else grunted in agreement and they all walked out of the theater quietly. Their walk back to the house continued in silence for the most part, only broken for a moment or two when everyone voiced their disappointment in the play. No one really elaborated though, everyone seemed to be too caught up in their own thoughts to discuss what they had just seen. Eventually Sokka came up from behind everyone, and with his arm already around Suki he wrapped his other arm around Toph's shoulder, who in turn did the same to Aang, then Zuko and then Katara, so that they formed a line all entwined, touching shoulder to shoulder. With her left arm draped around Zuko's waist, her right hand felt empty just hanging freely so she reached up to grab his wrist where it rested just below her shoulder. None of them spoke again during the long walk back, but walking together in tandem she felt a great sense of unity with everyone; she was extremely grateful not to have to go through this entirely alone.

\- \/\ -

The air was especially sticky that night and Katara's sheets kept clinging uncomfortably to her skin as she tossed and turned in her bed. It must have been an hour since they had all arrived back to the house and promptly gone to bed, but she couldn't sleep. Every time she closed her eyes she felt Aang's cool lips on her mouth and saw the hurt in his eyes. She groaned as she rolled over again and slammed her pillow over her head. Of all the horrible things she had seen tonight, why was the moment with Aang the only thing her brain seemed to want to think about? Mentally scolding herself and telling herself to calm down she kicked off her bedsheets and wrapped a thin blue robe around herself. If she couldn't sleep, she could at least try meditating, it had worked well last night, so it stands to reason that it'll work again tonight.

She huffed downstairs and pushed open the front doors only to run directly into Zuko's back.

"Unh, oh sorry, I didn't think anyone would be here," she steadied herself on his shoulders before righting herself back up where he was sitting on the front steps just beyond the main door to the house. "I was just going out to the pier to try and meditate," she wrapped her robe around her frame a little tighter as she stepped down to be more level with him.

"Mm, that seems like a good idea," he answered vaguely, still staring straight out in front of him, apparently unbothered by her knees crashing into his back just moments ago.

She frowned slightly and sat down on the stair next to him, "you can't sleep either I'm guessing?"

"I just can't stop thinking about it!" he threw his head back and rubbed the heels of his hands into his eyes, "they watched my sister kill me, and they all loved it! To play my part in all of this I was supposed to help end the war and bring the Fire Nation back into balance! But how am I supposed to do that when my own people are fantasizing about my death!" he turned toward her, meeting her eyes, his expression full of exhaustion and hopelessness.

Katara thought for a moment before speaking, "Zuko, how did you change your mind?" his brow furrowed as an asking for clarification, "what happened to make you realize you wanted to leave the Fire Nation and come join us?"

He paused for a moment, still unsure where she was going with this, "when I was declared a traitor and Uncle and I were travelling as refugees I saw how much people feared the Fire Nation, and how they hated me immediately for being a firebender, even if had previously been kind to them… but it still took me longer than that to admit to myself that what my father was doing was wrong. I was so hung up on getting his approval that I turned a blind eye to everything I had seen and went back home in the hopes that he would accept me. But it didn't feel like home anymore, I had seen too much, and I realized I could never live with myself if I didn't help stop the terror he was spreading."

Katara nodded in understanding, "so that's what you'll do then. Once you become Fire Lord you'll have to show your people the truth, and eventually they'll come to realize you have the country's best interest at heart. Those people in there tonight, they've only ever known one thing, this war has been going on so long that none of us know anything different, it's almost not even their fault. When Aang accidentally enrolled in a Fire Nation school a few months ago they told him all sorts of false stuff about the Fire Nation and the Air Nomads, and even the teachers really believed it because they'd never been taught anything different. It won't be easy, but if you can explain the truth to your people, just like you yourself experienced it, they too can change their minds."

His eyes widened as she spoke, giving her that intense focus of his, "you really think they'll believe me? There's so many people in the country, and they already think I'm a liar and a traitor…"

"They will. They have to… besides, they won't really have anyone else to turn to if Azula and the Fire Lord are, you know, out of the picture," she said with a small shrug.

"How are you so confident about this… I thought you said you couldn't sleep either?" he asked.

"Ugh, don't remind me!" she hung her head down and leaned her forehead on her hands. She had momentarily forgotten about her trivial problems while she was trying to console him. "It's so stupid! My problems are nothing compared to what you have to worry about, but my stupid brain won't shut up about them."

He eyed her suspiciously, "if it's bothering you it can't be nothing," he prompted.

"It should be nothing! I shouldn't even have to be worried about this right now…" his eyes narrowed as he tried to figure out what she could possibly be talking about, "you're going to think it's ridiculous if I tell you," she continued, avoiding his gaze.

"Just tell me what it is," he said, getting slightly annoyed by her evasiveness.

"Ugh, okay… Aang kissed me again," she tried to say it as flatly as possible.

"Oh, uh… romantic?" he shifted slightly where he sat, unsure how to continue.

"No! Not romantic! He got all upset because of that awful scene of us below Ba Sing Se," Zuko's face cringed, but he kept listening as the rest of the words tumbled out of Katara's mouth, "and he kept asking when we were going to be together since we kissed the day of the invasion, but I can't think about any of that right now cause there's a war going on, and I told him that and then he just went and kissed me again! And I'm so frustrated with him for thinking that was okay, and for being so hung about that of all things when he _should_ be focusing on mastering the elements and getting back in to the Avatar State!" she finished with a huff and crossed her arms over her chest forcefully.

"I, uh, I don't know if I'm really the best person to give advice about this sort of thing. Any relationships I've had have not exactly ended well…" he said, stumbling over his words somewhat.

"It's okay, like I said, the whole thing is ridiculous…" she mumbled.

"Um, well, okay, what if we weren't at war? Take that out of the picture – would you have feelings for him?" he asked cautiously, unsure if the topic was still open.

"I don't know… I don't even know how to think like that, I've been at war my whole life, and the last time I acted on feelings when I should have been focused on other things, Jet almost tricked me into helping kill a whole town of people," she said somewhat ashamed.

Zuko's eyes flared, "wait, the thing they showed with you and Jet was real!?" his mouth hung open in shock.

"No!" she protested, "I mean, I never slobbered all over his abs like that – gross – but we did, uh, sort of make out…" she blushed furiously, she couldn't believe the conversation had gone this way, and that she was essentially having girl talk with Zuko of all people.

He was studying her face, as if he was somehow seeing it differently than he had before, "ah, uh, I see," he paused a moment before deciding to go back to his original train of thought, "okay, so then, how do you feel about Aang in general?"

She looked at him somewhat surprised that he was still willing to talk to her about this, she didn't expect him to care. "Um, I don't know exactly. I mean I care about him so much, and it tore me apart when I thought we had lost him, but I don't know if that's enough for it to be um, like _that_ … I mean, I've never really even thought about him in the same way as…" her blush deepened as she tried to explain what she meant without being too detailed, she was thoroughly embarrassed that she had gotten herself into this situation. She let out a big sigh, "basically I don't know what I want, and I have no idea what I'm doing…"

He nodded as she trailed off, "I get it… Well, if it helps, I think you're probably right. It doesn't make sense to worry about love when you're worried about staying alive."

"Thank you!" she exclaimed with relief that at least some one was on the same page.

"Is that why you seemed so weird after you went to find him?" he asked, remembering her flustered appearance during the second intermission.

"Yeah, I was just trying to forget it happened… hey, I heard you yell at Toph right when I came back, what was that about?" she asked in the hopes that the Aang conversation could be fully dropped now. His agreement with her had made her feel a little better, but she still wanted to shove all thoughts of it from her mind.

"Ugh, she tricked me into letting her touch my scar," he waved his hand nonchalantly.

Katara's eyes widened slightly and a small smile formed involuntarily on her lips, "what? How did you fall for that?"

He let out a sigh before speaking, "this kid ran by and said something about my 'Zuko costume' being good except that my scar was on the wrong side, and Toph acted all confused, saying 'what scar?'" Katara let out a quiet hum as she realized where the story was probably heading, "and I had to awkwardly explain that it takes up most of my face, and I ended up just offering to let her touch it since she couldn't see it. But then after she just started laughing because – "

"Because Sokka had already told her about it back when you joined us at the Western Air Temple," she interrupted to finish for him.

He groaned in embarrassment, "yeah… I don't even care that she wanted to touch it, she could have just asked and I would have understood, but she made me look like an idiot right after we had just had a surprisingly nice talk about my uncle…"

Katara chuckled lightly, "unfortunately, that's just Toph, she doesn't do tact very well. If it helps, her teasing you probably just means she likes you."

"Yeah, that's what I figured," he said, rolling his eyes.

A moment passed where they were lost in their own thoughts. Katara thought back to when Sokka had told Toph about Zuko's scar, she had asked how he got it and none of them really had an answer for her. Rumors told them that there was some sort of duel gone wrong, but none of them knew the details. He had just said that he would have let Toph touch it if she had just asked, and Katara wondered if he would tell her about how it happened if she asked now.

Turning her head to face him she took a deep breath, "um, Zuko… can I ask, how did you get your scar?"

He met her eyes in surprise, "wait, you guys don't know?"

She shook her head, "no, I mean we've heard some things, but I never knew what was true and what wasn't… but I totally understand if you don't want to talk about it…"

"No, it's okay… I used to be so ashamed about the whole thing, but I've been starting to realize it's probably better to talk about it," he took a deep breath before continuing, "I was only thirteen and I was eager to prove myself to my father after my mother disappeared, so I begged my uncle to let me sit in on one of the war meetings. One of the general's suggested this plan that would use young Fire Nation soldiers as bait and essentially leave them for dead. I spoke up against it even though it wasn't my place, and my father took this as a sign of great disrespect, so I was challenged to an Agni Kai, which I foolishly accepted. But my father was the one who was to duel me, not the general, and once I realized, I refused to fight, and I begged for his forgiveness. By refusing to fight my father declared I had lost my honor, and he burnt my face to apparently teach me a lesson." He told the whole story calmly, laughing mirthlessly by the end.

Katara held his gaze while horror twisted in her stomach, and tears welled up in her eyes. What kind of father, what kind of person, challenges and burns their own child publicly and calls it a learning experience. To survive something like that and still retain any semblance of self was amazing to her, it must have been incredibly difficult for him to stand up to his father to come and find them. "Zuko, I, I'm so sorry…" she shifted closer to him, wanting to console him somehow, but unsure if he really needed it.

He shook his head softly, his eyes still held steady with hers, "it's okay. I know now that none of it was my fault, and my mark is just a reminder of who I'll never be."

Even though she could feel the truth of his words, she yearned to comfort him, to help ease the hurt that still lay beneath the surface of his eyes. Keeping her eyes still locked on his she lifted her right hand tentatively toward his face, and when he leaned forward ever so slightly she took it as a sign to move closer and placed the tips of her fingers along the bottom edge where his scar tissue met the soft skin of his lower cheek.

"And it'll be a reminder to your people as well. That you won't let the cruelty of your father's reign be repeated," she said, her voice barely a whisper.

Unlike when she touched his scar in Ba Sing Se, he kept his eyes open, his expression soft and full of something that she couldn't quite read. His gaze was intense, but not harsh, as he focused on her face as she explored the peaks and valleys of his skin. She traced her finger tips around the rim of the scar, back to his ear, up to his hairline, across the side of his nose, and back down to the bottom of his cheek where she rested her palm for a moment, her thumb placed lightly on the corner of his mouth. She looked back up to meet his eyes again, and for the briefest millisecond saw his eyelids flick down to her lips as his mouth parted ever so slightly against her thumb. Her stomach flipped over on itself and she realized that her heart had been pounding, the thrill of the possibility that, if just for that moment, he desired her, charged her body with electricity. An instant later when his eyes flicked back up to meet hers they both blushed, and his eyes widened slightly as if just realizing what he had done. Zuko cleared his throat as she dropped her hand and they both faced forward again.

"Um, thanks… for talking to me tonight, I've never really had anyone listen to me like that, so yeah, uh thanks," Zuko said awkwardly, risking a glance toward her.

Katara was glad he was deciding to gloss over whatever moment had just passed between them. She needed time to process if it meant anything, but she wasn't ready to stop hanging out with him either. She scooted closer to him and leaned her head on his shoulder, so the top of her head was nestled into the crook of his neck. "You're surprisingly nice to talk to too," she said with a light smile.

"What, you're still surprised?" he teased.

She chuckled softly, "no, I guess you're right, I'm not so surprised anymore."

He shifted his arm somewhat awkwardly as he hesitantly moved it behind her back, so that his hand rested next to her hip on the step. She relaxed into him further, using his arm as a sort of back rest, and he leaned his head down to rest on hers. They stayed like that for a few moments, just staring down the path in front of the house that led down to the beach, enjoying the silence of each other's company.

Suddenly remembering her conversation with Suki earlier that day, Katara wondered vaguely what she would think if she saw them almost cuddled together like this. Katara knew their positioning was just friendly, but she blushed again and couldn't help but smile slightly as she thought of how it must look from an outside perspective. She thought to herself if she had been someone else, someone who led a different life with less responsibilities and less fear, if she would have thought to kiss him a moment ago when he had looked down at her lips curiously. _It would be easy to be that person_ , she thought. To be the type of person who gets lost in the moment, who doesn't think of every possible implication before they act. She tried to stop herself before letting those thoughts go further, even playfully fantasizing about a different life was to indulge the idea that it was possible, and then she'd lose her focus on the present.

Unable to stop her thoughts from overflowing entirely she spoke, "hey Zuko?" He hummed quietly in response, "do you ever wish you could be someone else, just for a day?" she asked curiously.

He laughed lightly, rocking them both gently as his chest rose, "oh, definitely."

"Me too," she said softly as she readjusted herself on his shoulder, and he lightly wrapped his right hand around her waist. Goose bumps rose on the skin beneath her robe where his fingers rested, before disappearing as the warmth of his hand spread over her waist.

It amazed her how quickly she had begun to feel this comfortable around him, whenever she was near him she truly felt like they were all a complete team, and they could get through the end of this war together. _I guess it wouldn't be so terrible to get lost with Zuko,_ she mused to herself.

-/\/\/\/\/\/\\-

* * *

 **A/N: Whew that felt like a long one. Thanks to everyone who's been reading, and for you patience in waiting for this chapter, I know it took me a little longer to finish it. I know the basic plot of this one follows the episode of the show but I hope I added enough extra stuff in there to make it enjoyable, I really enjoyed writing all of Katara's internal reactions to everything, especially the scene with Aang on the balcony. The next chapter the group is going to try and have fun at the festival even though they're all in a sour mood from the play, and Katara will make an attempt at being more carefree.**

 **I really like comparing the word counts of the chapters (if you haven't noticed), they make good milestones for myself, so this chapter (minus this author's note) is 12,645 words, bringing the whole story up to 41,182. Holy shit, that's way more than I anticipated having at this point. I have a lot more story planned, in my mind this fic does go a bit past the end of the series and will deal with how Katara copes with everything after the war, so I really hope you stick around for it all.**

 **Thanks again as always for reading, I appreciate it so much! Please leave a review if you have any thoughts, comments, or constructive criticism!**


	5. Butterfly Masks and Watermelon Drinks

**In a New Light**

 **Chapter 5 – Butterfly Masks and Watermelon Drinks**

-/\/\/\/\/\/\\-

Katara spent the morning busying herself in the kitchen. She had made some simple omelets for breakfast, which hadn't gone over well. The only eggs they had at the market were fire chicken eggs which meant they had a natural spice to them unless cooked a certain way. Unaware, Katara added extra spices into the omelets and caused everyone at the table, minus Zuko, to sputter uncontrollably and spit out their food. After gulping down two full glasses of water Aang pushed his plate away from himself with a grunt.

"I hate the Fire Nation!" he said as he crossed his arms, "why does _everything_ have to be spicy!?"

"I'm sorry Aang, I didn't realize I had to simmer the eggs longer to dilute the flavor… it'll be better next time," Katara said quietly but firmly, not meeting his eyes. She hadn't spoken to him since the play last night and was sure that it still had him in a bad mood.

"Not _everything_ we have is spicy. We have plenty of sweet stuff too, you'll probably be able to try lots of it at the festival tonight anyway," Zuko said casually, easing the tension that had begun to grow since Aang's outburst.

"Aw, are we still going to that? I don't know if I'm ready for another night among the Fire Nation citizens," Aang said grumpily.

"What's with you, yesterday during training you wouldn't stop going on and on about how excited you were to show off all those stupid Fire Nation dances you know, and how glad you were that we just happened to be here for the most _romantic_ festival in the country," Toph said in a mock swooning voice.

Katara mentally cringed. She had a feeling that Aang's excitement about the Spark Candle Festival had been mostly due to her. He had probably been hoping to dance with her when the candle went out and mused that fate had wanted them to kiss. Considering how things had gone last night Katara was sure that wasn't going to happen. She had spent the entire time cooking breakfast thinking of ways she'd be able to avoid Aang all night so that she wouldn't have to deal with that exact situation.

"I changed my mind…" Aang muttered.

"I think it'll still be fun!" Suki piped up, "I know last night was rough, but tonight will be different. That lousy play was all about us but tonight we can be whoever we want – that's the whole point! I mean we have masks and everything, it's a great excuse to just have fun with no worries." Her cheeriness was genuine and she managed to lift Katara's mood slightly with just her attitude.

"Well, we can't be _whoever_ we want – I mean you're still gonna be my _girlfriend_ Suki who doesn't dance with anyone besides me," Sokka said in a teasing tone.

Suki rolled her eyes dramatically, "of course Sokka, you don't have to worry."

It wasn't a bad idea though. Katara _had_ just been wishing she could be someone else for a day, just to see what it would be like, and Suki was right, they _would_ all be wearing masks – maybe she could pretend there was no war for just one night. The idea excited and frightened her at the same time, she wasn't sure if she'd even be able to do it when they got there; in order for her to do whatever she wants, she has to _know_ what she wants. Either way she resolved to have a positive outlook for the night; it couldn't be any worse than watching the Ember Island Players, and it would be a good opportunity to try and be a little freer.

"Yeah, I guess showing everyone the Camelephant Strut again wouldn't be so bad," Aang said, still mumbling but his tone sounding more upbeat.

"Alright, now that our evening plans are confirmed _again_ ," Zuko said with mild annoyance as he stood from the dining table, "time for more firebending practice." He grabbed the back of Aang's robes and yanked him up on to his feet.

Aang let out a yelp of surprise, "we still have to train? I thought we were taking a break today!?"

"Just because I let you sleep in doesn't mean we're going to do nothing, now get out there and give me twenty hot squats!" Zuko barked as he pointed sharply out toward the courtyard.

Aang groaned, but did as he was told and the two walked outside.

Deciding to leave the dishes for later, Katara went over to the now stocked, but very disorganized, pantry. She went about moving things around so that everything would be more easily accessible. If they were going to be staying here a while then it made sense to set things up to her liking, especially because she imagined she would be continuing to do all the cooking, even if no one had really eaten their breakfast today. But more than anything, sorting through all the food was a good excuse for her not to have to watch Aang and Zuko train today. She knew she would have to talk to Aang again eventually, but she didn't have any new answers for him and she didn't really feel like having the same agonizing conversation all over again.

She had been working for about an hour and had just finished shelving all the meats and vegetables when Toph snuck up behind her.

"So, Sweetness, you don't want to watch the boys bend today?" she asked with a knowing tone.

Katara jumped slightly, "Toph! You scared me!"

"I'm sneaky," she replied with a shrug, "but seriously, what's up? You've seemed weird since last night."

 _How do people keep noticing that,_ Katara wondered with annoyance. "We all seem weird. It's not like any of us enjoyed that thing last night," she said evasively, waving her hand.

"I did! It was fun to watch them dump all over us! Well, not towards the end, but still, you guys are all so serious, you gotta lighten up," Toph said cheerily.

Katara glared at her incredulously, "come on Toph, I saw you last night, you were just as bummed out as the rest of us – you don't really expect me to believe that you thought it was a good time?"

"Okay, fine you're right, the whole thing sucked monkey butt," she threw her hands up in the air, "but that doesn't mean we have to let it affect us from here on out. Nothing has changed, we still have a job to do."

The truth was that Katara already felt that way, but she didn't want Toph to know the reason she was acting weird wasn't exactly related to the play, so she played along, "yeah that is a good point. I'll try to be more positive about it," she said, not quite lying to her, but definitely not showing her true feelings either.

Toph's expression changed slightly, now picking up on Katara's evasiveness. "So then come watch them practice with me, I thought it would be a good idea for us to watch and maybe come up with some good counter moves so we can better spar with them," she said simply.

Oh. That actually was a good idea. "Uh, maybe some other time… I'm really focused on getting all of this stuff sorted out, and I'm only about halfway done, so…" she argued feebly.

"Katara why don't you want to go outside?" Toph asked, impatient now.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Katara said airily, turning to sort through the bags of rice they had bought the other day.

Toph sighed in exasperation, "you know that I know you're lying, so why don't you just tell me what's going on so I can smack some sense into you and we can all move on with our day."

"Ugh, it's silly and doesn't matter anyway. I'm just trying to forget about it, so can just you drop it?" Katara replied, her voice clipped.

"If this is about Aang's stupid crush on you and you not knowing how to deal with it then the best way for you to forget about it is to just act like everything is normal, _and come watch them practice with me_ ," Toph practically scolded her.

Katara stopped mid movement and just stared at her for a moment. "How do you know about all that?" she asked carefully.

"Come on, Twinkle Toes gets all fluttery around you all the time, and last night after we had to watch you and Zuko do the nasty on stage, he got all huffy and left. You've both been all weird since then so I figured something must have happened," she shrugged again, "you don't have to tell me what went down, I just want you to snap out of it. It's for the good of the team."

"Organizing all of our supplies is for the good of the team too…" Katara mumbled to herself before Toph yanked on her arm and pulled her out of the kitchen toward the courtyard. She had to admit that Toph made a great point, one of the main reasons Katara didn't want either her or Aang to dwell on anything romance related was because she wanted everyone to focus all their energy on preparing for the day of the comet. Watching the boys train would be a good learning experience for all of them, but that didn't mean that Katara had to indulge in Aang wanting to dance with her or any other shenanigans he might want to get up to at the festival tonight.

Aang and Zuko seemed to be deep in a hushed conversation when Toph and Katara walked out into the courtyard.

"What are you guys talking about, why aren't you training?" Toph said loudly as they entered.

Aang jumped about a foot in the air before turning around to face them, his ears tinged pink, "nothing! Uh, Zuko was just trying to explain some more complicated techniques to me and I've been having trouble picking it up… What are you guys doing out here, I didn't think you were going to watch today?" he added on quickly, trying to shift the conversation away from whatever he and Zuko had actually been talking about.

Toph turned toward Katara with her eyebrows raised in implication that she should be the one to explain why they were out there. "Uh well, Toph thou – I mean _we_ thought," Toph had nudged Katara in the arm, "that it would be a good idea for us to watch more often, and for us to all spar together. I mean we're all going to be fighting against firebenders pretty soon, so it would help if we all knew what we were up against." Katara directed her words more to Zuko rather than Aang, still not wanting to meet his eyes or give any other implication that she wasn't still upset with him.

"That sounds like a good idea," Zuko said immediately, giving a quick glance over to Aang who was looking somewhat uncomfortable, "why don't we split into teams, we can start with you two against Aang and I. Aang," he turned toward the young airbender, "I want you to try and only respond with firebending for now. I know when we do this for real you'll be able to use everything you've learned, but your firebending still needs the most practice, so try not to airbend at all."

Aang met his eyes and bowed making the Fire Nation salute, his expression having more focus and resolve now that he'd been given a specific task.

Zuko and Aang started at the far end of the courtyard with Katara and Toph facing them. They all raised their hands up into their respective bending positions and Zuko called for them all to begin. Katara immediately did a somersault off to her right and Toph erected a huge wall of earth up in front of her to block the two bursts of fire Aang and Zuko had punched out in unison. Katara pulled some water from the water skin slung across her back and formed it into a thin stream, aiming to wrap around Zuko's wrists, but it was interrupted by a kick of fire from Aang who was running closer to her, opening his mouth as if to try and talk to her, making her his prime target. Toph noticed Aang's lack of focus on her and began punching cubes of rock from her wall of stone at him in succession, which he saw only a second too late, letting one of them graze across his shoulder before he flipped backwards away from both girls. Instead of going after Aang while he rebuffed Toph's attacks, Katara, still crouched, turned her focus back to Zuko and sent another thin water whip toward his feet while he got ready to send a stream of fire toward Toph. Katara's water wrapped around his ankles before he could finish his movement, and she yanked forward, causing him to fall onto his back. Anticipating his next move, Katara yelled at Toph to block herself and stood to quickly pull water from the fountain at the far end of the courtyard, as Zuko spun his legs around over his body and let out a huge circle of flames around him. Pulling the water from the fountain under her feet, she used it to make a ramp for herself and skate over his flames. His fire reached the water she was standing on just as she was hovering over him and she dropped to the ground right in time to take the rest of the water from underneath her and completely douse him with it.

Taking his sopping wet appearance as a sign that she had won her battle she turned back around to see that Toph had captured Aang in a small earth pyramid with just his head sticking out. "Well, looks like we won," Katara said with satisfaction, her hands on her hips.

"No fair, if I had been allowed to earthbend I wouldn't have gotten hit by Toph's rocks or trapped in here," Aang said as he pushed the pyramid around him back into the ground.

"No, you would have been able to dodge my attacks if you hadn't been trying to talk to Katara in the middle of practice!" Toph said annoyed.

Katara winced slightly, she had noticed Aang seemed to be trying to say something to her, as if he knew this would be the only time she allow herself to be around him today. She had purposefully focused her attacks on Zuko so that she could avoid Aang, and his distraction was likely the reason the boys had lost.

"Ugh, alright," Zuko began, pinching the bridge of his nose, "how about Aang can earthebend and firebend, since those are what he needs the most practice in, and _no one_ does any talking, so we can all just focus on what we're doing?" He looked at each of them individually to emphasize his no-talking point.

Everyone grumbled in agreement and took their positions again as they started another round of sparring. Katara did her best to try and attack both boys equally, but she found herself gravitating more toward Zuko throughout each sparring session. It felt more comfortable to be attacking him, and she realized that she already had a good grasp on his fighting style and therefore was able to best him easier. In addition, she felt herself second guessing herself whenever she directed her water toward Aang, worried he might take each advance toward him to have some other meaning. They all were much more evenly matched now that Aang was allowed to use two elements, and the girls were only one match ahead of the boys when Sokka and Suki came out to tell them all they had to get ready soon if they were going to make it to the festival on time.

Katara quickly grabbed some of the water from the fountain to rinse the sweat off her before scooping it back up, dumping it back into the fountain and heading inside after the others. Once she got back to her room she changed out of her Water Tribe clothes into her Fire Nation outfit and picked up the black mask from her small bedside table. She lifted the mask to her face to compare it to her clothes, the black leather and the gold trim complimented the red well, and the blue stones surprisingly didn't look too out of place – they accentuated her eyes nicely. A smile formed over her face as she thought about just being a regular kid for the night, no expectations, just fun and dancing - and hopefully more of that delicious volcanic spice cake. She was about to finalize the outfit by wrapping the string of the mask around her head when she heard Zuko curse from their shared bathroom, and she went over to investigate.

He was staring at the mirror in annoyance, one hand holding his ridiculously gaudy mask, the other trying to push his hair back out of his face. "This thing is so fucking stupid!" he said when he realized she had come in to check on him, "the stupid pointy parts of the mask keep catching on my hair and making my hair get in my eyes so I can't see." He dropped his hand from his hair and let the mask fall to the counter in front of him in exasperation.

"Well why don't you just tie your hair up and then put the mask on after?" Katara pointed out.

"I was trying to… But I'm not that good at it… I rarely ever had to do it myself," he mumbled embarrassed.

" _What_? Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation can't do his own royal topknot?" Katara teased.

"Shut up," he said giving her a glare.

She chuckled, "it's fine Zuko, I'll help you."

"Or, I can just say I'm sick and not have to wear that god-awful mask at all," he said hopefully.

"We're all going, so you're going too. Besides, you have to be there to keep Sokka from beating up Chan and Ruon-Jian when they inevitably flirt with Suki all night," she said with a laugh, "now turn around so I can do your hair." She hopped up onto the counter as he turned around, so that she could be at a better height to reach his head. He stood with his back barely pressed against the edge of the counter, with her knees on either side of him, her feet dangling down next to his thighs. She started to thread his hair through her finger tips and away from his face, finding it soothing to feel the silkiness of it between her fingers. His hair was barely long enough to be pulled back so she had to go about it slowly to make sure none of the hairs fell out.

"Ugh, Chan and Ruon-Jian… I'm going to end up just babysitting everyone tonight, aren't I?" he asked with a small laugh.

"Well, you could just try and have a good time, but that runs the risk that all hell will break loose as it usually does whenever we all try and have a good time for once," she responded, laughing along with him as she took the red ribbon from his hand and wrapped it around the knot of hair she had made at the crown of his head. "Okay, turn back around so I can make sure it looks good from the front," she instructed.

He turned to face her and where their positioning had been innocent a moment before, she suddenly became hyper aware that, even though they weren't touching, her legs were now effectively straddling his waist. Electricity momentarily flooding her blood, she adamantly shoved the thought of his hooded eyelids on her last night from her mind and focused on pushing the fly-away strands back into his topknot. Silence draped over them as she pulled some small droplets of water from the sink off to her right and used two finger tips to smooth his hair back around his temple. The short hairs around where his scar met his hair in a jagged line were particularly unruly and she had to spend some extra time there to make it look uniform. She had noticed that his scar went past his hairline last night, but she hadn't really thought much of it until now.

"How did all of your hair not catch on fire?" she blurted out, shattering the silence. Her eyes widened immediately as she realized the insensitivity of her question. She opened her mouth to apologize when he spoke, her fingers still resting lightly at the topmost edge of his scar.

He paused for a moment, a smirk playing on his lips, "that's one that I've never been asked before," he said, surprised by her bluntness but not offended. "I don't really remember, I blacked out pretty much immediately, but my uncle said the doctors just off the sidelines rushed over and made sure to put out any of the flames in my hair, and then that's why they shaved my head, to help it heal better… You have any other questions?" his brow raised teasingly.

Her eyes narrowed as she tried to hide her embarrassment from speaking without thinking, but there was something she was curious about and decided to take the opportunity, "um, is your hearing and sight affected at all from it?" she asked somewhat shyly.

"Mm, my hearing is okay, only the outside of my ear got burnt, so that's fine, but my peripheral vision isn't that great in my left eye," he said simply. "Anything else?" he asked, amused.

"You're just okay with me asking questions about it?" she asked, surprised he was continuing this topic.

He shrugged, meeting her eyes with that intense gaze of his, "it's refreshing to be asked something other than 'did it hurt' or having people just walking around on eggshells around me after they find out."

She nodded her understanding, keeping his gaze and knowing that by just keeping her eyes locked on his, he would know they were on the same page. Ignoring the slight flutter in her stomach - which she wrote off as just residual excitement from being so close to an attractive boy - she broke the eye contact to grab his mask from the counter next to her. "Okay, time for the final touch."

The smile on his lips dropped slightly and he groaned at the sight of his ridiculous mask, but he leaned forward slightly so she could wrap the strap of it around the back of his head, under the newly made topknot. She leaned a little closer as well and could smell the soft scent of jasmine coming off his hair, her mind flashed to her trying on his shirt in her tent just last week and she couldn't help but think about how much their relationship had changed since then. She tugged the mask over his face and leaned back to assess her work.

"Well… you look insane, but no one will have a clue you're actually the prince of the nation," she said with a smile.

He leaned around her to see his face in the mirror, "well, that's good I guess."

There was a loud bang on the door to Katara's bedroom and Sokka's voice rang loudly through the room "Katara! It's time to go!"

She jumped and felt her heart hitch up into her throat as she was suddenly made aware again of her proximity to Zuko. He seemed to realize as well and he immediately backed away from her so that she could hop off the counter. They made eye contact again briefly before quickly looking away and making their way out of the room. Katara grabbed her own mask and they both headed downstairs to meet up with the others.

\- \/\ -

Even though the flier that advertised the Spark Candle Festival had stated that they were only admitting teenagers and older, when the group arrived at the central plaza of town they found the entry guidelines extremely lax. The whole plaza had red and gold colored canvas tented over it, and at the small opening at the front sat a very bored looking young man behind a small podium.

With his mask already covering his face Aang sauntered up to the brooding teen at the entrance and spoke with a forced deep voice, "flameo my good hotman! As you see, my fellow teenagers and myself," he gestured back to the rest of the group, who collectively looked away or hid behind their hands, "would like entrance to this shindig."

The kid, who Katara could now see had a small piece of parchment pinned to his vest that had "Hi I'm Tai!" written on it, barely glanced at Aang and didn't move his chin from where it rested on his hand as he grabbed six gold pieces of string with his other hand from a shelf by his knees. "Six drink ribbons. Wrap them around your wrist and show the drink master to get your free drinks. But remember, everything in moderation or whatever," he said, his voice completely monotone, as if he was reading off an extremely boring script, "the candle gets lit right after sunset. Masks on at all times until the candle fully burns out in a few hours. You'll know when that is cause it's like really bright and loud. Have a sparktastic time." He opened the canvas curtain behind him without looking, while dropping the ribbons into Aang's opened hand.

"Flameo!" Aang said as he jumped up and ran inside the plaza, eagerly handing everyone their ribbons as they followed.

"What was with that guy?" Sokka asked as he tied his string around his wrist.

"He's probably the son of a servant or something so he got stuck with working the festival instead of being able to come with the rest of us," Zuko explained simply, "festivals like this, especially on Ember Island, are usually meant only for nobility or the kids of higher up officials."

"Hmm, that hardly seems fair, isn't the whole point of us wearing masks so that we all see each other as equals?" Suki asked, and Katara nodded in agreement.

Zuko shrugged, "Fire Nation. Hardly anything regarding nobility is fair."

As Katara tied her free drink ribbon around her wrist she took in how the plaza had been transformed from the last time she saw it. The entire area had been covered in the red and gold canvas except for the left most side which was open so that the patrons could see out over the cliffside and watch the sunset, and then look at the stars once they began to appear. The ceiling with lined with hanging lanterns that trailed in a circular pattern toward the middle of the plaza where the enormous spark candle stood, and the tenting opened above it to allow the smoke to travel out. The candle was twice Katara's height and she wondered how the wax could possibly melt all the way to the bottom by the end of the night.

"That whole candle is going to burn tonight?" Katara turned to Zuko as she gestured toward the center of the plaza.

"I think they use a special kind of wax that melts faster than usual, but they change the consistency of it as it gets lower, so that there's more anticipation for when it'll actually reach the bottom," he explained.

"Huh, seems like a lot of work for a country that's banned dancing in most of its provinces," Katara said thoughtfully.

"Oh yeah, the no dancing thing is primarily just in lower income states… My father wants everyone more focused on the war efforts. Actually, he disapproves of this sort of thing existing at all, but I heard he made some sort of compromise for the kids of his most trusted advisors to be allowed to meet each other in a more comfortable environment," he said with a hint of bitterness, "probably to help ensure bloodlines stay pure too…" he mumbled more to himself.

"Well, then let's all try and enjoy the dancing while we can!" Aang said enthusiastically.

"See Aang, I knew you'd cheer up once you got here!" Suki said happily, "now let's go take a look at those free drinks before the sun sets!"

The sun was low and tinted the sky a peaceful pink color. It looked like it would be set within a few minutes. As they made their way over to the drink carts Katara contemplated what she wanted to do. She wanted to try and be more open tonight, but wasn't exactly sure how to go about it. She had never really drank before, mostly because she hadn't had much opportunity, but also because she wasn't exactly fond of the idea of not being fully in control of her actions. _Tonight, is about letting go and just being a regular kid. Drinking and dancing are what regular kids do right?... well rich Fire Nation kids seem to anyway… And tonight, I'm one of them, just Sapphire Fire here to dance and have fun,_ she felt a little silly but resolved to try her best.

The far end of the plaza was littered with drink carts and buffet tables, Sokka practically squealed when he saw all the options. He grabbed Suki and made a b-line for a buffet with a wide selection of meat skewers. Seeing that Aang was veering off toward the small assortment of vegetarian options to the right-hand side, Katara decided to go the opposite direction and head straight for one of the drink carts. The one she saw first seemed to have a lot of interesting looking fruit options. All the drinks seemed to be different variations of vodka poured into halved out fruits. There were so many choices, and strange looking pointy fruits that she wasn't sure where to start.

She stood with her finger absently playing with her bottom lip trying to decide when Toph came up behind her suddenly, "trying to get drunk to avoid Twinkle Toes?"

Katara whipped around, surprised she had been snuck up on again, to see Toph's eyebrows raised smugly above the thick black ribbon she had wrapped around her eyes as her mask. "Toph! Stop doing that!" Katara exclaimed, "and no, I'm not…I just, want to try something new is all."

"Uh huh, suuure Sweetness, you keep thinkin' that," Toph replied with a crooked smile, "let me know how it turns out for you." She turned and marched off toward some of the food tables, leaving Katara annoyed as she turned back to the drinks in front of her.

"I think I'll take that one please," she said to the drink master, pointing to a carved-out baby watermelon that had a milky looking liquid in it, that she hoped meant it wouldn't be as strong as the other clear ones on the table.

"Wristband?" he said gruffly and she held out her wrist to be inspected, "here ya go sweetheart," he put a straw into the fruit and passed it over to her.

She gave a forced polite smile at the way he called her 'sweetheart' but thanked him for the drink and turned to look for Sokka and Suki. As she looked she took a small sip from the straw and was pleasantly surprised that she barely tasted any bitterness, it was a mix of watermelon juice, coconut water and just a hint of vodka. And she liked the way it burned her throat as it went down. She smiled to herself as she spotted Sokka still at the meat skewer stand, with about five sticks in each hand. One thing the Fire Nation definitely got right was the food.

"Ah, ah, sthpicy sthpicy!" Sokka said, hopping from one foot to the other as he continued to munch on one of his sticks of meat.

Suki merely rolled her eyes through the eye holes of her mask, apparently having given up on telling him to slow down, "hey Katara, find anything good at the drink cart?"

"Mhmm!" she nodded happily, also choosing to ignore her brother's blatant refusal to take his time with the spicy foods, "here try some, it's really sweet!"

"Ooh, yeah that is good, I'll have to go get one later!" Suki exclaimed after taking a small sip.

"You guys, this is so fun! Even the vegetarian food here is really good!" Aang said, coming back from the buffet table with a plate of noodles.

Everyone nodded their enthusiasm and they stood in silence a moment, collectively enjoying their food and drinks.

"Hey, um, Katara, I was wondering if – " Aang began slowly before Katara cut him off.

"Look! They're about to light the candle! I'm going to go find Zuko and Toph to let them know!" grateful that she had noticed four firebenders take their places around the spark candle, she rushed away from Aang and into the crowd that was beginning to form in the middle of the plaza. _There will be no kissing tonight, I'll run away all night if I have to,_ she thought with determination.

Having successfully avoided a real interaction with Aang, Katara figured she may as well actually look for Toph or Zuko so she could have some company. The sun was at the horizon now, soon the only light in the plaza would come from the dim lanterns hung above her head. She felt a little bit lighter with every step as she sipped her drink while she meandered through the crowd, absently looking for a familiar face – _or mask,_ she corrected herself with a small giggle.

She found Zuko first, the ridiculous colors of his mask contrasting his sulking face caught her attention quickly as she searched the outskirts of the plaza.

"You aren't going to watch them light the candle?" she said as a way of greeting.

He gave a shrug, "people usually start grabbing dance partners immediately and I'm not really much of a dancer."

Katara scoffed at him, "we make a point to have more fun, come to a festival where we can wear masks and be whoever we want, and you still choose to sulk in the corner. Live a little Zuko!"

His eyes narrowed under his mask before softening to show his amusement as he looked over her face, "have you been drinking? You're all pink," he said waving his fingers toward her cheek.

Embarrassed, she pressed her knuckles to her cheekbone and found her face was actually quite warm, _that happened quickly… maybe I'm a lightweight_ , she thought to herself. Feigning confidence she held her drink up to her eye level, "well yes, it's part of the _fun_ I just mentioned."

He let out a small laugh, "I guess that's true. Well then, how has the night been going so far in that regard?"

She put her finger on her chin to mimic thoughtfulness before answering, "hmm, well, first I got this delicious beverage," she said with a smirk as she swished what was left of her drink, "and then I ran away from Aang cause he was trying to talk to me about something that would probably make me uncomfortable, and now I'm here talking to you."

Zuko sighed, "you know, it might not be so bad to just talk to Aang."

She opened her mouth and dramatically let out a gasp of shock, "yes it would! I've had enough talking about my feelings lately. Tonight, isn't about _talking,_ and _feeling,_ " she said, gesturing her hands, "tonight is about doing."

He continued to look at her with that smug amused look on his face. Huh, maybe she was being more expressive than she usually would be. The drink must have been stronger than she originally thought – Zuko didn't usually find her this entertaining when she spoke, and she didn't usually wave her hands around so much either.

"Oh?" he asked facetiously, crossing his arms over his chest, "and what exactly do you plan on _doing?_ " he said mimicking her tone.

Before she could come up with an answer there was a whooshing sound from the center of the square and the firebenders around the spark candle sent out four simultaneous streams of fire toward the top of the candle. It popped three times to signify that the festivities had officially begun, and the crowd around whooped and cheered. A moment later, the band circling the candle came to life and music filled the air. There was some scrambling in the crowd until most people were paired off and a few more left to get some food and save the dancing for later.

"I never understood why people want to dance right away at these things," Zuko said, shaking his head, "the whole point is to kiss whoever you're with when the candle burns out – what, do these people think all of the wax is going to melt in the first song?"

Katara gave a shrug, "I don't know Mr. Grumpy, maybe because dancing is _fun_?" she said pointedly.

\- \/\ -

Taking a note from Zuko, Katara decided not to dance immediately once the candle was lit and instead opted to go find Suki and show her to the drink cart she had gotten her watermelon vodka from. Katara's own fruit cup was now almost empty and showing Suki where it was would be a good excuse to grab another one for herself; it was so sweet and tasty she found herself wanting more and more after each sip.

She found Suki dancing with Sokka in the middle of the dance floor, surrounded by countless other sweaty teenagers. Sokka had been attempting to twirl Suki around but whipped her too hard causing her to crash right into Katara's side. They both doubled over in laughter and Suki decided she would have to start drinking if she was going to endure Sokka's dancing for the whole night. The two girls picked up their drinks, another watermelon for Katara and something called a dragon fruit whiskey for Suki, and they headed back out onto the dance floor.

Unable to find Sokka again they decided to just dance with each other while they sipped their drinks. The music was upbeat and easy to bob along to, neither of them had much experience dancing and found themselves slipping into their combat positions, mimicking each other's movements. They were steadily getting sloppier as the songs continued on and would fall into a fit of giggles every time they would bump into one of the many people near them. Eventually the music changed to a slower tempo and Suki went to go look for Sokka again, while Katara went to find a nice bench to rest on for a bit.

She wandered aimlessly through the throng of bodies, looking up at the spark candle long enough to determine that it must be about half of the way melted by now, meaning there was still plenty of time for more dancing after she had sat down and rested her legs. She had almost made it out of the crowd when a bright red hog monkey mask appeared in front of her.

"Hey Katara! I've been looking for you, um, I was wondering if you'd wanna ta-" Aang said loudly so his voice could be heard over the music, before Katara cut him off for the second time that night.

"Aang! Hi! Um, nope, can't…uh got to uh…bathroom!" she exclaimed the last word once it finally came to her. Why had that sentence been so hard to form? Nonetheless she felt proud to have come up with such a great excuse to run away from him again and she quickly wove through a group of people and headed toward a swinging bench underneath a tree that she saw across the courtyard.

When she reached the bench, she saw that someone was already sitting on it, but she was suddenly so tired that she didn't care much about personal space and she plopped down next to the man.

"Still having fun?" the husky voice next to her said.

She turned and squinted at him, surprised to have been spoken to. When did the guy on the bench turn into Zuko? "Oh, Zuko, hey…" she said with difficulty, she wasn't sure why, but she didn't want him to see that she may have been just a little buzzed, "mhmm yep, lots of fun having, I like dancing with Suki," she gave him a big smile that she was sure came off as natural, before she took another sip to finish off her second drink, or was it her third? She couldn't remember if she and Suki had gone back to the carts another time or if they had only discussed it.

She had trouble reading his expression through his mask now that he was looking slightly blurry, "maybe you should stop drinking for now." Even though she couldn't tell what his face was saying she was pretty sure his tone was full of concern.

"Hey, at least I'm _trying_ to have fun!" she yelled at him, unsure where her sudden anger was coming from, "what have _you_ been doing all night other than just pouting here in the corner pouting!?"

He sighed and she could almost feel him rolling his eyes. "Actually, I've been having a great time watching Toph silently trip and pummel all the guys who keep trying to make a pass at her because they think she can't see them," he said, apparently deciding that if he ignored Katara's anger it would just go away. He pointed out into the crowd toward the small earthbender girl shifting easily through the crowd and subtly earthbending up little bricks from the ground, making a few different boys fall flat on their faces. Her familiar smirk of superiority could be seen all the way across the plaza.

Katara laughed heartily, her sudden burst of annoyance forgotten about completely, "okay, yeah, this is pretty fun." Feeling sleepy, she leaned her head down onto Zuko's shoulder. He stiffened at first from the sudden contact, but relaxed almost immediately. Katara tried to close her eyes and relax but with her cheek smashed against him, the mask on her face shifted to dig uncomfortably into her ear and jaw. Unable to stay comfortable she sat back up with an annoyed "hmph."

They sat in silence for a while, she wasn't sure exactly how long, just watching the other kids dance, or Toph occasionally knock someone else to the ground. She began to get bored after a while and got the itch to get up and move around again.

She stood up and held her hand out to Zuko, "come on, let's go dance."

He looked up at her somewhat skeptically, "uh, that's okay, I'm good here for the rest of the night."

Her thoughts felt a little more coherent after resting a bit, "come _on_! You agreed with me last night we needed distractions, let's just be _normal_ for tonight?" she looked down at him with pleading eyes, "pleease?"

He looked up at her contemplating, but before he could decide she let out a groan and yanked him up by his wrist, and dragged him out to the dance floor. He protested as they went but didn't try to back away. The candle was almost entirely melted by the time they reached the center of the plaza, _when did that happen?_

They faced each other and began moving to the music somewhat awkwardly when the tempo slowed down again and everyone around them began to pair off and wrap their arms around each other. Zuko stopped moving and made to leave the dance floor. Katara felt sad, the night was almost over and she wanted to get some more dancing in before she had to go home and think about real life again. She moved forward quickly and placed her hands on Zuko's shoulders, their stomachs only an inch apart.

He looked down at her confused, "uh, Katara, the candle…" he said cautiously, hoping she would understand the implications of them dancing together so close to the end of the night.

"Shh!" she shushed him harshly while she clumsily pressed her index finger against his lips to make her point clear, "it's just dancing."

He maintained his confused expression and sighed to himself, but tentatively placed his hands on her hips and they began to sway back and forth slightly. Katara closed her eyes and focused on the music, she felt light and free, happy to just sway along to the song, grounded only by the firm grip on her hips to make sure she didn't float away entirely. _Maybe this is what peace feels like..._ When she opened her eyes again she saw the gold irises of Zuko's watching her intently, _has he been looking at me like that this whole time?_ She was sure she would have blushed under her mask if her cheeks weren't already so warm from the alcohol.

The trance of his eyes was broken when she saw a short boy in a red mask in her peripheral vision. She immediately pressed her body up against Zuko's, eith her cheek on his chest and forced his shoulders to turn so that his back shielded her from Aang's sight.

"It's Aang!" she hissed, "don't let him see me!"

Zuko's grip on her loosened, "Katara I really think you guys should just talk," he said looking down at her as she scowled back up at him, "…okay well, maybe not right now, you do smell pretty strongly of alcohol."

Her scowl deepened but then she heard Aang call out her name and she ducked out of Zuko's embrace to run as far away as she could. As she maneuvered through the various couples, all groaning their annoyance at her running into them, she began to laugh at how silly the situation was. She was drunk and running full speed through a crowd of angry, horny fire nation teens, just because she wanted to avoid a simple conversation about her feelings with her best friend.

Katara stopped running when she heard a familiar voice next to her. When she turned to the source of the sound she saw Suki protesting as a poorly disguised Chan tried to pull her further into the dance floor.

"Listen creep, how many times do I have to tell you I don't want to dance with you before you get it!" Suki yelled in Chan's face as she easily batted his hands away from her waist.

Chan and Ruon-Jian were both shirtless and wearing flimsy paper masks over their eyes, with Ruon-Jian struggling to keep his hair from getting smashed underneath it and poking him in the eye. It was as if they showed up thinking it was a beach party and had to make masks last minute. For some reason Katara found the whole scene absolutely hilarious.

She pointed at Chan while holding back laughter, "you do realize that Suki will totally flatten you if you don't listen to her right?"

"Sounds hot," Chan said, barely glancing in Katara's direction.

Ruon-Jian, however, turned to her as she spoke, "yo, dude! It's the girl! These are the hot chicks from the café – you ladies came to dance with us after all!" He attempted to suavely push his long mangy hair from his eyes and moved to wrap his arms around Katara to get her to dance. Normally she'd be able to avoid his weak grip easily, but her still inebriated mind was making her body move slower than usual, and he was able to successfully grab on to her wrist, pull her closer to him and press his crotch into her thigh. She let out a groan of disgust and tried to shove him away again.

Deciding enough was enough Suki looked Chan directly in the eyes, "fun and games is over boys!" She smirked wickedly before jerking her knee up between his thighs, and then when he hunched over in pain she lifted her leg high in the air and with a swift chopping motion kicked him in the back and sent him sprawling on the ground.

Momentarily distracted by his friend going down, Ruon-Jian released his grip on Katara, and she took the opportunity. Even though she still felt sluggish, her opponent was no match for her as she crouched down low and swiped her leg under his and caused him to stumble backwards.

Katara just realized that Zuko must have followed her after she took off because as Ruon-Jian fumbled backwards he ran directly into Zuko's chest. As soon as they made contact Zuko shoved him away hard, "what the hell do you think you're doing!? They said they didn't want to dance with you!"

"Z-Lee, itsfine, I had it under control!" Katara snapped at him, her words slurring slightly.

"Yeah, but maybe we should kick him in the balls too just for good measure," Zuko said, not taking his eyes off Ruon-Jian.

"Woah man, this is like way familiar, is this like, not the first time I've flirted with your girl?" Ruon-Jian said unaffected by the rage emanating off Zuko.

Katara was going to protest that she was _no one's_ girl but didn't have time. Zuko growled loudly and pulled his arms into a fierce bending position, looking like he was aiming to punch a fireball directly into Ruon-Jian's face; Katara quickly lunged forward and hit his arms down, "that's enough! It's time to go!"

He met her eyes and lowered his arms slowly, eventually letting out a long sigh. He looked like he was going to give Ruon-Jian one last shove when Sokka burst out from the crowd that had begun to watch the scuffle.

"No one dances with my girlfriend!" Sokka vocalized like a war cry, eyes wild and arms flailing while he circled the area, taking in the scene. Upon seeing Suki standing over Chan who was still doubled over on the ground holding his stomach, Sokka straightened up, "oh, hi Suki! Good job babe!" He jogged over to her and gave her a kiss on the cheek which she accepted with an eye roll and a giggle.

With his anger seeming to have dissipated slightly, Zuko suggested they all head back to the house before they cause any more of a scene. Sokka and Suki went off to find Aang and Toph to let them know; Katara wanted to go with them but Zuko insisted she go home now to sleep off what she drank.

"I'm not even that drunk! I'm fine!" she protested.

"Katara, you've been stumbling since you ran away from me, and the only reason you were able to push Ruon-Jian away is 'cause he's built like a twig – you didn't really even sweep his legs, you just sort of nudged his ankles," he said, looking at her seriously.

Oh. Come to think of it, she _had_ thought the ground seemed really uneven all of a sudden while she was making her way through the crowd. She grunted, not wanting to admit that he was probably right, and she headed toward the festival entrance.

After stumbling along in silence for a bit, her shoulder bumping into Zuko's arm every few steps, he stopped. "Alright, enough of this," he turned toward her and in one fluid motion grabbed her forearm, turned again, and hoisted her up onto his back, with her arms wrapped around his neck and his hands holding her steady underneath her knees.

She yelped as soon as her feet left the ground, "hey! I can walk jutsth fine! Put me down!" She squirmed against him a few times as he shook his head, but she gave up quickly, his grip on her legs was strong, and truth be told it was quite comfortable. He was warm and the steady pace of his steps easily lulled her into a state of sleep. She vaguely heard the popping sound of the spark candle finally going off some distance behind her as she drifted off, her head resting between Zuko's shoulder blades.

\- \/\ -

Katara came-to in midair as Zuko dropped her unceremoniously onto her bed. She groaned loudly at being tossed down so carelessly, and looked up to voice her annoyance but could only manage a confused sounding, "hey!"

He ignored her and motioned for her to sit up. When she continued to lay down like a dead fish he reluctantly grabbed her wrist and pulled her upright. Her feet rammed into something hard and bucket shaped when she swung her legs down toward the floor. _Why would he put this here so inconveniently?_ She grumbled in her mind. "Katara, you need to drink some water," Zuko said, holding a cup in front of her face.

She brought her pointer finger up to her lips in a shushing gesture, "shhh, not Katara… _Sapphire,_ " she dazzled her hand dramatically next to her eye where the stones of her mask would be. Huh, she must have taken that off already. And Zuko's mask was off too, he looked all disheveled with the front bits of his hair hanging loosely around his face, his topknot now sagging loosely. She preoccupied herself with looking around the room for their masks, ignoring his attempts to hand her the cup of water. Did he take them from her? She wanted to keep those as memories, why would he take them? "Where's mmasks?" she asked, trying to focus on his face.

High sighed deeply, "you ripped mine off my face as soon as we got back to the house and yelled 'be free bright butterfly!' So, I imagine they're both probably lying on the floor somewhere downstairs," he said with just the slightest hint of a smile on his lips, "I'll go get them for you later if you want, but right now you need to drink this."

She vaguely remembered reaching in front of her when she was on Zuko's back and feeling the weight of his mask in her hand, but she had no memory about calling the mask a butterfly, although she did have to admit it looked like one. Focusing now on the cup he was still holding patiently in front of her face, she nodded mischievously as she pinched her fingers together to bend the water out of the cup and toward her open mouth, but at the last second, she whipped it away from her face and sent it flying out the window and into the courtyard below her balcony.

His face was now completely devoid of amusement and she laughed raucously at his stern face. It struck her again how out of place he should look in this situation, the prince of the Fire Nation sitting next to her at the foot of her bed, looking exasperated, hair askew, and trying to take care of her, a drunk water tribe peasant – but somehow, he fit there perfectly. She tried to steel her features and imitate his expression, "ooh so grumpy, Mr. Grumpy" she said with a mock frown. His eyes only narrowed minutely in annoyance. "Your face is pretty when you're grumpy," she said off handedly once her laughter died down.

Her earnestness caught him off guard so suddenly after her teasing that his intensity faltered, "uh… what?"

Her stomach fluttered strangely and she shrugged noncommittally, "the whole thing, with the face, and the hair tied back," she wiggled her fingers in his face to gesture what she meant, "it's pretty."

"I, uh… thanks?" he said, his hand, still holding the now empty cup, slowly lowered as he tried to seek out any extra meaning from her face.

She smiled at him widely, unsure why he was looking over her so oddly. Her stomach fluttered again suddenly, and then, she vomited into the bucket that had been placed conveniently at her feet.

"Ah shit!" Zuko jumped up, dashed to the washroom to get some more water before sitting back down next to her, and rubbing circles on her back from an arm's length away. He handed her the water when she lifted her head up, and this time she took it without protest.

\- \/\ -

There was a never-ending avalanche in her head and the entire weight of the sun was pressed against her eyelids when she awoke the next morning. Her ear was bent awkwardly between her skull and the mattress where her head had slipped off the pillow, and the knuckles of her left hand brushed the floor, fingers throbbing from over circulation as her arm must have been dangling off the bed for most of the night. She dared to lift her eyelids and subject herself to the piercing brightness of early morning.

Without moving her head - for fear it would fall off her neck - she surveyed what she could see of the room from her limited angle. She was in her room – Azula's old room, she remembered – in the Ember Island house, but she didn't exactly remember walking home. There was a hand lying palm up suspiciously close to where her own hand hung off the bed, she followed the line of the lean arm attached to said hand and found it belonged to a shirtless Zuko, sleeping soundly with his right arm draped over his eyes, lying on the floor a few feet from her bed. _Did I fall asleep holding his hand… and why isn't he wearing a shirt?_ She thought confusedly. Why did all her memories have to be so blurry… Studying his face further as her vision focused itself she saw that he had bundled his shirt under his head as a pillow – at least that explained one thing.

She sat up slowly and with a great amount of effort, her brain felt like it was fighting to escape her skull entirely. She let out a huge sigh of relief as she managed to finally prop herself up at the head of the bed.

At the sound of her rustling Zuko hopped up from his position on the floor, "you okay, you need the bucket again?" he asked, his voice still groggy from sleep.

She groaned at the mention of the bucket, she had a vague memory of hunching over it last night, "ugh, I was sick last night wasn't I? I only drank two of those things…or was it three…" she said with annoyance.

He smiled slightly, glad that she was fully coherent again, "you hadn't eaten anything, and those drinks are a lot stronger than they taste… I probably should have warned you," he said simply.

Memories came back to her in short blurs, clumsily tripping Ruon-Jian, pressing her body against Zuko as they danced, calling him pretty before nearly ruining his shoes, the vague sensation of a warm calloused hand stroking hers as she drifted off, and a lot of stumbling and running away from Aang like a little girl. "Agh, I hate drunk Katara!" she said, throwing her hands in the air.

"Don't you mean drunk _Sapphire_ ," Zuko said with a smug look as he mimicked her hand movement from the night before.

"Shut up!" she yelled, pelting her pillow at him before shoving the heels of her palms into her eyes in attempt to cover her embarrassment.

He caught the pillow easily and walked over to her slowly, holding it out as a peace offering. She glared at him but accepted the gesture and returned the pillow behind her back as he sat at the foot of her bed. "So, your night of fun and freedom didn't go as planned?" he asked somewhat shyly.

"No," she said with a sigh, "I had fun dancing with Suki, but mostly I was on edge trying to avoid Aang, and now I just feel childish… I know I have to talk with him eventually, I just wanted so badly to have no worries that I tried to avoid everything else and spent the whole time _being worried_ about not having fun. It's all really stupid now that I think about it," she gave an empty laugh.

"I didn't want to tell you flat out last night because it's his thing to say," Zuko said, meeting her eyes, "but he was trying to talk to you 'cause he wanted to apologize for what happened at the play."

A blush of shame rose to her cheeks. Of course he only wanted to apologize; a flicker of guilt flashed over her as she realized now _she_ had been assuming _his_ intentions instead of the other way around. "You didn't tell him all that stuff I told you the other night about my feelings, did you?" she asked Zuko urgently.

"No, no, of course not!" he replied, his hands raised defensively, "it was his idea. He asked me about it during training yesterday, right before you and Toph walked in. He said he wanted to apologize and asked if I thought you'd be willing to listen to him."

She stared at him blankly. "Aang, was asking you, for advice… about me?" her head was still pounding and she wasn't sure if she was understanding him correctly.

"Uhh, well yeah," he said, his gaze shifting away as he rubbed the back of his neck, "he said something about how if you could forgive me after Ba Sing Se, and how he's seen us talking more lately, that maybe I'd know the best way for him to approach you, or how you'd react, I guess." His voice had adopted that awkward tone he got sometimes and his words seemed to trip over themselves.

"Oh," was all Katara could say at first. She supposed she had been gravitating toward Zuko more since they came back from their little field trip, but she hadn't really thought much of it, and she didn't think anyone else had noticed – other than Suki's misinterpretation of their meditation session the other night, which Katara had written off as a one-time misunderstanding. "Uh, well, what did you tell him?"

"I said that apologizing was a good idea, but that I wasn't sure exactly how you'd react, and that most importantly he should really listen to whatever you have to say, even if it's something he didn't want to hear," he recounted shyly.

Katara smiled to herself, that probably was the perfect preface for Aang, it prepared him for anything while also reassuring him that apologizing was the right thing to do, "that's…good, thanks" she said with a nod.

"He uh, he was worried about you last night too," Zuko said, meeting her eyes again, unsure if he should be telling her this, "he kept asking if you were okay and if he could come see you after you had passed out, but I told him to wait until the morning. I figured you wouldn't want him to see you like this."

"I didn't exactly want you to see me like this either…" she said under her breath. A faint blush rose to his cheek, but he made no other indication that he heard what she said.

There was a slight pause before he spoke again, "uh, I can go get him now if you want… I sort of figure you don't want to get up for a while…" he said somewhat awkwardly.

She nodded with a smile, despite the ever-present rattling of her head, "more like I don't want to get up ever again… and Zuko, thanks… for you know, watching over me and everything." She wanted to give him a hug but the weight of her body kept her down. Instead she extended her arm out and held her hand open to him. He took it with a nod and she gave his fingers a comforting squeeze, which he returned. He held her gaze for a moment longer and she swore she could see the flicker of tiny golden flames in his eyes before he broke the contact and left to go fetch Aang.

As soon as he went out the door Katara did her best to quickly bend the sweat off her body and calm her hair with her fingers – she knew the worse she looked the more Aang would worry about her. She doubted she had made much of an improvement on her appearance by the time she heard his voice call her name shyly beyond to door to her room.

"Hey Aang," she said, feeling small and embarrassed about her actions from last night.

"Hey," he said, his voice equally as small, as he walked over and sat cross-legged at the edge of the bed, facing her, "is it alright if we talk now?"

His voice had a hint of hurt in it, afraid she might run away from him again, and she felt that urge again to hug him and protect him from ever feeling pain again. But she pushed that aside, she needed to make sure he understood her and that they were on the same page before she accidentally sent him mixed signals again. "I'm sorry for running away last night when you had been trying to talk to me, it wasn't a very mature way for me to act," she said with some reluctance, she didn't like to admit to feeling embarrassed.

He shook his head, "that's okay, I should have given you some more space and time to be ready to hear me," he said, his voice was stronger now, he spoke clearly and with intention, "it was wrong of me to kiss you the other night at the play, and to try and put my feelings on you without first asking how you felt, and I am deeply sorry for putting you in that situation." He finished with formality and formed his hands to give a bow like the one he usually gave her at the end of all their waterbending sessions. After he rose from his bow he moved to uncross his legs and get up.

She smiled at his earnestness and unnecessary diplomatic tone, "Aang, wait," she said, reaching forward to stop him from moving, "you don't need to be so proper… and, I uh, I really appreciate your apology, but… I think we need to talk about this some more," her voice became more serious as she spoke.

His eyes widened hopefully as he looked at her, "wait, so, you don't hate me?"

"No," she said shaking her head with a chuckle, "I mean, I was pretty upset, but I couldn't ever hate you…" she paused to gather her thoughts before continuing, "but listen, all those things you asked me on the balcony, about when and why and everything… I just, I still don't have those answers, and I don't know when or if I will. But what I do know, is that you're one of my best friends and I'm tired of feeling like I have to avoid you or like I can't talk to you about things because… well…," she paused again, hoping to brace the impact of what she was about to say, she knew she needed to say it, it had been eating away at her for weeks, but she was scared nonetheless that her words would hurt him. "Because, I'm tired of worrying that if I talk to you a certain way, or even hug you too much or something, that you'll take it the wrong way and assume it means something more than it does," she blurted it out quickly to get it over with, and she couldn't meet his gaze.

His eyes widened more as she went on, and he spoke immediately when she was finished, "Katara, I am so sorry, I never meant for you to censor yourself like that… and, you're right, I have been acting exactly how you've been afraid I would. I meant what I said, I shouldn't have assumed your feelings for me, and it won't happen again." He fidgeted his thumbs nervously before continuing, "but, I do miss hanging out with you, I just want things to go back to normal between us."

A smile formed involuntarily across her face, "I want that too… and I promise, that as soon as I do have any answers for you, I'll tell you right away, okay? I honestly have a lot to sort out in terms of my feelings, it's pretty obvious I'm a bit of an emotional mess right now," she laughed as she gestured to her clearly disheveled state, "but as soon as I know, you'll know, okay?"

He nodded, with a smile that made his eyes twinkle, "um, can we make a promise too?" his voice had gone shy again, "can we promise, that no matter what happens, we stay friends?"

Her body relaxed as she let out a breath she didn't even realize she had been holding for over a month. She realized with sudden clarity that this is what she had wanted – she didn't want to be someone else for a day or a night, she just wanted the freedom to be herself without worrying how other people would perceive her. She needed to worry about the war, and nothing else until it was over, anything else was just too much.

She nodded vigorously, "that's a great promise," she said and she leaned forward, ignoring her now dissipating headache, and hugged him tightly around the shoulders. "How about you ditch firebending practice for today and we do some waterbending down by the beach?" she asked happily.

"Sounds great!" he replied, "but uh, maybe you should eat and wash up first, no offense, but you look terrible," he teased.

She glared at him, "yeah, yeah okay, no more drinking for me, I've gotten the message, thanks" she replied dryly. She shooed him out of the room and took her time to relax while she got ready. As she pulled some fresh clothes out of her dresser she saw her and Zuko's masks laying on top of it – he must have gone downstairs and gotten them for her sometime after she fell asleep like he said he would. She couldn't help but smile to herself, her friendship with Aang was going back to normal and she started to finally admit to herself that she was gaining another great friend in Zuko - for the first time in weeks everything felt right again.

-/\/\/\/\/\/\\-

* * *

 **A/N: Alright, another one done! Thanks so much for reading and your patience as I wrote this one, my schedule has been a lot busier lately so it's been a bit harder to find time to write, but I promise I'm still doing my best to keep up. I had some fun writing drunk Katara and it gave me an opportunity to show just a little bit of Zuko's caring nurturing side. Also, that little moment in the bathroom where she helps him do his hair has been in my head for _weeks_ and I really hope it reads the way I see it in my head.**

 **It was really important to me to get an apology scene in somewhere between Aang and Katara, because I can't see that _not_ happening, I mean Aang feels bad about kissing her immediately after she runs off in EIP and I think it's just in his nature to make things right. Plus, as I've said, I am going to try my best to keep this story canon compliant for the run of the show, and if the final scene of the show is going to happen Aang had to apologize at some point, I refuse to believe that he wouldn't. But to each their own of course! And don't worry, we're going post-war here so there's a lot more story to unfold.**

 **Word tells me this one is 11,808 words, the longest I've written for a non-episode centric chapter - which I hope means something positive? So that brings the total up to 52,990 words, if only my college professors could see me now!**

 **Also, I've started posting this story over on ao3 too, so if you prefer the formatting over there go ahead and check it out, the story and my name and everything are the same so it should be easy to find!**

 **Thanks as always for reading, and please leave any thoughts you have!**


	6. Sokka's Assumption

**In a New Light**

 **Chapter 6 – Sokka's Assumption**

-/\/\/\/\/\/\\-

With her body still feeling sluggish and her headache still aching dully from her over drinking the night before, Katara took her time getting dressed into her traditional water tribe outfit. She had been wearing red so often the last few days, and with no plans to really leave the house today it felt good to be back in more familiar colors. Even though she had told Aang she would practice some waterbending with him today she knew she would have to take it easy at first, or at least eat and drink something before she attempted anything more than just walking around. Her spirits were up now that things were less weird between them, but her body still needed to recuperate.

Once she was fully dressed and had washed up in the bathroom she made the long trek out into the hall and down the stairs to the low dining table in the living room. Each step forward made her head spin and she wondered how anyone could possibly enjoy drinking when this was the aftermath.

She was vaguely aware of everyone else staring at her as she collapsed with little grace onto one of the cushions around the table. "How's it goin' there sis?" Sokka's voice rang loudly across from her teasingly.

"Unh," she managed a grunt at him – it had been so much easier to talk before she forced herself out of the comfort of her bed. She lifted her head to properly look at everyone for the first time since she had come down, they were all there except for Zuko and Aang. Everyone around the table was looking at her with a mixture of sympathy and something that resembled repressed laughter. She was sure they were holding back the urge to tease her about any one of the many embarrassing things she surely did last night. Before she could ask what exactly it was that they wanted to laugh at, Suki's cheerful face caught her eye – Katara was sure that Suki had drank as much she had last night, but right now she seemed completely headache free. "How do you look so happy?" Katara asked her incredulously.

Suki laughed lightly, "well first of all I didn't throw all my water out the window last night," she said with a smirk, and Katara had a memory of her bending water out of numerous cups that Zuko had offered her – she remembered drinking a few of them, but she the distinct image of his face slowly getting more and more frustrated and her laughing with glee at his annoyance. But how had Suki known about that, had Zuko complained about her? "But also, Zuko made some of this great Fire Nation hangover tea, which helped a whole lot," Suki continued before Katara got a chance to ask her how she knew about the cups of water.

Just then Zuko and Aang walked over from the kitchen with two large trays in their hands, Zuko's had a tea pot and some steaming cups of tea, while Aang's was full of some small bowls of rice and veggies. The smell of the food Aang brought over hit her first and she immediately felt the fog in her head begin to fade. She practically inhaled it when he placed a bowl in front of her. Ignoring the amused stares of her friends, she moved on to the tea Zuko placed in front of her a moment ago. It was still steaming and the smell was _much_ less pleasant than the rice and veggies she had just finished.

She made a face and recoiled as she placed the cup back down on the table. "It's pretty gross, but it'll help," Zuko said with a shrug from where he was now sitting to Katara's left.

She made a face at him, _he doesn't actually expect me to drink this does he? It smells like the sludge we cleaned out of the river from that factory near Jang Hui_. Her face still screwed up in disgust she turned toward Suki, "…you actually drank this?"

"Yep!" Suki responded enthusiastically. Just enthusiastically enough for Katara to wonder if this was some sort of trick. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion, but she pinched her nostrils together and gulped down the drink as quickly as she could.

It was awful. The texture was somehow both smooth like phlegm and powdery, like it had flakes of baking flour sprinkled in it. It was hot and thick and was like what she imagined farts tasted like. Her teeth felt like they were coated in slime, but she definitely wasn't thinking about her headache or her sore muscles anymore.

Everyone was leaned in watching her with anticipation, and she continued glaring while she spoke, "well, that was terrible… but I think it helped," she grumbled reluctantly. They all leaned back on their legs again in relief.

"Thank god! Suki spit the whole thing out on to the table and I haven't been able to get the smell out of my nose all morning!" Toph exclaimed.

"What?" Katara whipped her head back toward Suki, "you just told me you drank it too!"

"Well I tried to! But it was just so awful!" Suki said defensively, "but you did it, and you feel better right? That's all that matters?" she smiled feebly.

Katara groaned and rolled her eyes as Aang spoke up, "so does this mean you're ready for some waterbending practice now?" he asked excitedly.

She glared at Suki and Zuko one more time, the latter of which gave of a look of helplessness that Katara guessed was meant to convey that he had tried to warn her of the drink's vile nature, before she nodded to Aang and stood. "I'm going to wash this awful taste out of my mouth and I'll meet you at the beach in a few minutes," she huffed off to the kitchen sink, ignoring Sokka's light snickering as she left the table.

\- \/\ -

When she got to where the path in front of the house opened up on to the sand of the beach she saw Aang standing shirtless at the water's edge, gently pushing and pulling a stream of water from the ocean's surface. With his back turned to her the lightning scar on his back was in full view. It was significantly smaller than when she had first healed it almost two months ago, but the skin still looked sore and angry, the jagged line where the scarred flesh met the healthy blue tint of his tattoo caught her eye especially and she wondered vaguely if he saw some sort of symbolism in it. The sacred marks of his now extinct people interrupted violently by a scar that could only have come from an enemy. But as she watched the way he playfully splashed the streams of water in his control back into the sea, she saw no hint of malice, maybe just a pinch of fear for what was to come, but there was no vengeance. She felt the familiar swell of pride in her chest that she often felt when she saw him bending, it came so naturally to him, and it really did fill her with hope. She cringed hard as she realized her thoughts had just echoed that horrible play version of herself, and she shook herself back in to the present moment.

"Hey," she said when she was close enough for him to hear her.

He dropped the water he was bending and turned to her with a smile, "hey! So, you're feeling better? Sorry we all kind of made you drink that stuff, Zuko wouldn't let any of us see you last night, so we were all a little worried."

"Ugh, I'm glad he didn't let anyone in, I think I was pretty awful to him," she said, fighting back her embarrassment.

"He mostly just talked about how you refused to drink any water, and that we should all be nice to you when you came downstairs," Aang said, shrugging as he shifted awkwardly on his feet, "he uh, seemed kind of concerned about you the whole time," he continued, his voice turning into more of a mumble as he spoke, his eyes looking at her questioningly.

Katara wasn't sure why but she felt her ears warm slightly, "oh, uh, well, I'll make sure to thank him again I guess." Feeling a little uncomfortable with the current topic she decided to move on to waterbending, "so… I was thinking that we haven't really trained together in a while, and I should teach you some of the stuff that I learned from Hama."

"What!?" he said, completely taken aback, "you want to teach me bloodbending!?"

"Oh, no, no!" Katara said, her hands up in front of her as she realized her mistake, "I meant some of the other stuff she taught me! I mean Hama was totally insane, but she actually taught me a lot of really useful stuff before she ever mentioned bloodbending." Aang's face calmed some and changed into an expression of interest, prompting Katara to continue. "The first thing, is that water is all around us, in places you don't even expect. Have you noticed how the air is so much more humid here in the Fire Nation?" Aang nodded, his attention on her fully, and Katara's voice adopted it's teaching tone as she pressed on, "well, it's humid because there's more water in the air here, and if you concentrate hard enough you can feel the tiny droplets of water floating around us everywhere, and even bend them to your will if you have to." She focused her senses and scooped her hand through the air around her to pull the water from it, and coat it around her fingers. She let it form into a small orb in the palm of her hand and then froze it in place into a small sphere of ice.

Aang's eyes widened in awe as he watched her. "Wow, that's so awesome! I wanna try!" Katara showed him the movement again, and he mimicked her perfectly, he didn't manage to get quite as much water from the air as she did, but as he held his hand out in front of him there was still a small blob of ice, similar to hers. "I had noticed that the air seemed heavier here when I airbend, but I didn't even think about that it was because there was water in the air – I can't believe we never thought of this before!"

He continued to mirror her movements, getting more and more water as they practiced, and she slowly added more complicated positions to show him ways to get more water, or how to better form it into ice that could be used as daggers or projectiles in battle. "You know, I never would have learned about this if I never came to the Fire Nation – there are so many things about waterbending I would have never learned if I had just stayed in the South Pole… or even if I had trained solely in the North Pole for that matter," she said thoughtfully.

"Yeah, it is cool! It's like being able to travel all over has actually made you the perfect waterbending teacher for me!" Aang said happily.

She smiled back at him, glad that he saw her as a worthy teacher, but she didn't say anything in response. While she was glad all the skills she had learned while traveling were helping her teach him everything there is to know, that wasn't the entire point of what she said. It seemed contradictory, but ever since she had started traveling, learning the small tips from Hama, and even learning about plant bending from the waterbenders in the Foggy Swamp, she felt even more connected to her culture. Water truly is the element of change, and the reason she's such a dynamic teacher for Aang is because she's had the opportunity to learn from so many different types of people – she found it a shame that she was likely the only person on the planet who knew waterbending the way she did. She hoped that one day those kids who trained with her and Aang in the North Pole all those months ago under Pakku would have the same opportunities she's had to expand their knowledge. _Maybe once the war is over that'll be a real possibility for them_ , she thought with a smile.

Once she could see Aang's attention starting to wane, she suggested they try to spar a little bit before heading back inside. They rarely sparred together as Aang generally didn't respond well to attacking Katara – or really attacking anyone for that matter – but with the comet approaching so quickly she decided not to concern herself with his comfort; he needed the combat training. He hesitated but agreed and they began flicking water whips at each other and bringing large waves from the ocean onto the land in attempts to splash one another. Eventually, after realizing they were fairly evenly matched, Katara changed up her strategy and dodged off to his side, grabbing a fistful of sand as she went. She saw him move to pull some more water from the sea and she threw the sand in his face just as he was about to strike.

The water fell uselessly back onto the beach as he spluttered, "hey no fair! You didn't say we could do that!"

Katara stood with a laugh, "well, waterbenders need to be able to adapt and change pupil Aang," she teased.

"Oh yeah?" his voice challenged, "try adapting to this!" He blew a force of air out of his nose, successfully shaking the sand off his face, and knocking Katara backwards onto her butt.

Katara was now on the ground covered in wet sand, Aang was still picking a few grains of dry sand out of his eyes, and they both began to laugh. It had been so long since she'd just had good natured silly fun. He sat down next to her and they both brushed the remaining sand off themselves while their laughter subsided.

They were quiet for a moment before Aang spoke again, his tone more serious, "hey Katara, I want to talk to you about something."

Oh no, had she been too nice to him – did he ignore everything she had just said this morning? Bracing herself, she asked, "what is it Aang?"

"I want to wait until after the comet to face the Fire Lord."

"What?" That certainly wasn't what she had been expecting at all, "what do you mean – why?"

"Well, my firebending isn't all that strong yet, and the comet is going to make Ozai so much stronger, and without the Avatar state, I don't know, I think it just makes more sense to wait. So, I can train more and fight him when he isn't going to be all crazy powerful, it'll be a more even playing field," he explained, meeting her eyes to show his seriousness.

She wasn't sure exactly how to respond. On the surface, this seemed like typical Aang procrastination, like if he just waited some more, everything would be easier. But at the same time, Katara had to admit it made sense for the most part, the only element Aang had really come close to mastering, other than airbending, was waterbending, and with the comet making all the firebenders more powerful, it might be a safer bet to wait. It seemed like he had put a lot of thought into this, and he was the Avatar, she knew she could trust his instincts on things like this in the past.

"But what about what Roku told you, didn't he say that after the comet there would be no hope of ending the war?" Katara asked. Aang's talk with Roku all those months ago was the whole reason they were set on this timeline surrounding the comet in the first place, she sincerely hoped he was taking that into consideration.

"Well he did say that we had to win the war before the comet came, but I… I basically already lost the war after what happened in Ba Sing Se…" he said, sounding defeated.

She reached forward to place her hand on his knee, she knew how hard it was for him to talk about Ba Sing Se, it had been his biggest failure. She still shuddered to think about how small and frail he felt in her arms as she carried him out of the catacombs. But he had a point, she didn't really see how it could get much worse than that. "If you think that's what's best, then I'll support you," she gave his knee a light squeeze before returning her hand to her own lap.

"Thanks, Katara," he gave her a small smile, "I haven't told any of the others yet, I sort of wanted to tell them individually – I don't want to start a big group argument."

"Okay," she nodded, but wondered to herself how exactly that would go. She imagined most of the others would take it how she did, with initial skepticism, but ultimately respecting his decision. Except, she imagined that Zuko would be angry. He was more personally invested in the end of the war than they were – the war ending essentially meant ending his family as well. Even though they hadn't spoken about it, she knew he was both looking forward to and dreading the day of the comet as the culmination of dealing with his father – he probably would not respond well to hearing that the timeline had changed.

Just then she heard Toph's voice call to them from the pathway leading to the house, "hey Twinkle Toes, no more splashing! It's time for some real bending!" She pounded her fists together firmly.

"Waterbending is real bending Toph!" Katara yelled back with a roll of her eyes.

Aang groaned but stood to join Toph, "more earthbending?"

"Yep, the boys insisted on using the courtyard for Sokka's genius idea of 'swordbending,' so we're gonna go throw some rocks on the cliffs," she said with an air of annoyance.

"Swordbending!? Aww, that sounds fun!" Aang whined as he followed her along the path to the cliff.

"Sounds dangerous is more like it…" Katara grumbled to herself as she made her way back toward the house where she imagined there would be all sorts of idiotic injuries for her to heal.

\- \/\ -

Katara poked her head out into the courtyard cautiously to the sight of her brother charging full speed at Zuko, his obsidian sword pointed directly at the other boy's chest.

"Space sword sliiice!" Sokka yelled just as he reached Zuko's position.

He deflected Sokka's sword easily with one of his own curved blades, "Sokka, you've gotta stop yelling what you're about to do – you're making this too easy!"

Katara ignored the small squabble brewing between the boys and sat down next to Suki on the other end of the courtyard. "How did all of this happen?" she asked, gesturing to where her brother and Zuko were now clanging their swords together furiously.

"They both found out they each trained under Piandao," Suki said with a sigh, "and Sokka insisted on a 'swordbending' match."

Katara rolled her eyes, "but why is he doing so badly? Sokka is normally really good with his sword."

"Zuko accidentally made a small cut on Sokka's forearm, and now he's sworn to a very dramatic revenge," Suki said with a tone that suggested annoyance, but Katara could tell she found Sokka's flair for the dramatic to be endearing. "Unfortunately, his skills drop pretty significantly when he tries to make a big show of it," a small smile formed on the corner of her mouth.

The girls turned their attention back to the sword fighting and Katara noticed how easy it looked for Zuko. She knew that he was trained with dao swords, but she had never actually seen him use them. He moved them with such ease, his eyes were set in that focused line of his, but his body seemed to move and respond without him even needing to think.

Suki started to cheer Sokka on, and Katara joined in, "yeah Sokka! Go Water Tribe!"

Momentarily pulled out of his concentration by their cheering, Zuko looked over to them, "hey! You're both cheering for him? That's not fair!" He ducked quickly to avoid another one of Sokka's jabs, but kept his eyes on the girls.

"Sorry Zuko! He just seemed like he needed the support more!" Katara called back with a sympathetic shrug.

Now it was Sokka's turn to avert his attention toward Suki and Katara, "hey! That's not cool! I don't need your pity cheers!" He slipped to the side just in time to avoid one of Zuko's swords as it came at his chest and Katara scoffed at him loudly. His dodge had been a much closer call than Zuko's had been.

"Fine then! Don't accept my cheers!" Katara called back indignantly, "go Zuko! Two swords are better than one! Kick him while he's down!"

"Okay you don't have to egg him on like that either!" Sokka called back, feigning offense and still only half paying attention to the swipes of Zuko's swords, "I am still your brother after all!"

"I'm sorry, I don't take criticisms from someone who doesn't want cheers from me!" she responded, sticking her nose up in the air dramatically.

"I think the cheers are great Katara! Two swords _are_ better than one!" Zuko said, meeting her eyes briefly before taking a swipe at Sokka's legs, which he jumped over clumsily. Katara gave Zuko a firm nod in response.

"Stop encouraging each other!" Sokka yelled impatiently, "come on Suki, help me out!"

"You're doing great honey!" Suki called happily, "but maybe you should focus less on our support and more on the swords coming at your head?" Her tone was light, she was immensely enjoying everyone teasing her boyfriend. Sokka grumbled his agreement and began to focus on the match again.

It was a little silly, but Katara felt almost embarrassed cheering for Zuko. She knew it was all fun and games, but she couldn't shake this feeling that Suki might read into her cheering for Zuko as another sign that something was going on between the two of them. They might have maybe had a strange _moment_ after the play, and she had enjoyed feeling his hands rest firmly on her hips as they danced last night, but none of that actually _meant_ anything. It was just stupid teenage hormones - _and alcohol_ , she reminded herself. Besides, Suki had completely dropped the subject after she asked Katara about the meditation session, and Zuko hadn't mentioned anything at all, so they must be on the same page. She decided she was definitely just overthinking things and began to cheer for Zuko in earnest, oohing and awing whenever there were any close calls.

It was only another twenty minutes or so of metal slashing and Sokka's occasional "sneak attack!" calls before he decided to call it quits – something about needing to find a sharpening stone so that he could fight better. Zuko scoffed at this obvious lie, but otherwise didn't call him out on it. Katara offered to heal the minor cuts he had gotten during the match, but Sokka said he'd rather just have Suki patch him up, insisting it would help their boyfriend-girlfriend bonding. At this, Zuko stuck his tongue out and made a gagging sound.

"I think it's kind of sweet," Katara said to him once her brother and Suki left. "Now, will you let me heal your cuts or are you just as stubborn as Sokka?"

"Definitely not _that_ stubborn," he replied, walking over to her in the shaded area of the courtyard, "I can't imagine why anyone would say no to your magic healing stuff."

"It's not magic, it's just waterbending," she teased, "but it's probably just Sokka being Sokka, I mean he's gotten a _lot_ better, but he's still on his never ending quest to be 'manly,'" she said fondly.

Zuko chuckled lightly in response and Katara moved closer to him to focus on the cuts on his calves first.

"I wanted to thank you again for taking care of me last night, I sort of didn't realize how difficult I must have been until breakfast this morning," she said after a moment. She had been feeling a little guilty about it ever since she found out that he had told the group about her refusal to drink any water.

He shrugged uncomfortably, "it wasn't so bad."

"Come on, I mean, I bent _all_ of the water out the window, you held back my hair while I threw up, and you had to sleep on the floor…" the image of him laying in her room with his hand outstretched toward hers surfaced in her mind again and she wondered if she should thank him for the other things he had done for her too – the hand holding, bringing their masks back to her room after she asked for him, and the fact that he hadn't once teased her about calling him pretty. She decided against it, he hadn't brought up any of those things so he must not see them as a big deal, and if he did, she certainly didn't want to acknowledge it and introduce a new awkwardness between them. "You didn't have to do all of that, so… thank you."

She stood back up, having finished up with the cuts on his legs, and saw him shift uncomfortably again under her eyes. She kept forgetting that he was unused to people showing him any form of gratitude. "I wanted to make sure you were okay," he said, still not quite looking at her. He usually held her eyes with such ferocity, she wondered if there was something else on his mind but decided not to press it. He had opened up to her so much in the past few days, it didn't seem fair to pressure him to continue to do so.

Instead, she gave him a big smile and moved forward with healing up the few cuts he had sustained on his upper arms and one on his collar bone. The wounds knit themselves back together easily, they were just surface cuts, and she could feel the power and the heat of his muscles through the water as she ghosted her hands over him. She could feel his chi still flowing freely through his body and she was surprised he wasn't exhausted from all the fighting he had just done.

"You aren't tired after all that?" she asked him curiously, breaking the silence and knocking him out of his weird trance.

"What – oh, uh, no – you could tell that from just healing the cuts on my arm?" he asked surprised.

She gave a half nod half shrug, "yeah I guess so. I can feel your chi channels and usually after a long fight or exhaustion they start to block up in need of rest, but yours are still flowing freely."

"I've been training so much with Aang lately, I guess I've built up my endurance," he gave her a shrug in return, "I could probably keep fighting if I had to."

Katara's eyes lit up with an idea, "would you want to spar? You and I haven't fought properly since… well, since Ba Sing Se, and it would be really great to practice some real combat bending one on one." While she had sparred with Aang just an hour or so ago, it wasn't really the same. With Aang she always took on the role of teacher and was always looking for ways to give him openings to use the moves they had been practicing – his learning was more important than her own desire for an intense match. But whenever she fought with Zuko in the past it had been real stakes, and admittedly, the thrill of that was amazing. Even though they weren't enemies anymore and there wouldn't be any real stakes she knew Zuko wouldn't hold back, and she wouldn't have to either.

He thought it over then smiled at her wickedly and nodded firmly, "you're on."

They started on opposite ends of the courtyard, Zuko strategically guarding the side with the fountain. Once in their respective bending stances they locked eyes and nodded at each other in unison, signaling to the other to begin. They both moved immediately, Katara preemptively dodging off to the side – she anticipated his more offensive fighting style, which worked out her favor as he had immediately jumped up to kick two fireballs at her. She moved quickly to whip the water out of her water skin, aiming to wrap it around his feet once he landed, similarly to how she tripped him in their group matches yesterday. But he had caught on to her trick and immediately swiped his legs low with another swoosh of fire from his feet and caused her water whip to evaporate.

There was a brief lull in their movements as she narrowed her eyes at him, subtly letting him know he had bested her for a moment and he smiled smugly in return, before they both sprang back into action. Now out of water she made a serpentine pattern through his streams of fire, heading to the fountain behind his back. He stood his ground, creating a small wall of fire in front of him when she was within a few feet of him. She was close enough now to feel the water behind him moving peacefully and she stopped her dodging maneuvers to pose herself to grab the water from the fountain. Seeing her change in stance he guessed her next move, he dropped his fire and instinctively turned to block the water he was sure she was going to splash him with, but as soon as he turned she changed her movements to instead swipe her hand through the air and pull from the natural humidity around her. She coated her fingers in icy daggers and threw them at his chest, lightly grazing the sides of his shirt and tearing the fabric. He turned back to her immediately, his mouth hung open slightly in shock. Taking advantage of his surprise she pulled more water from the air to now coat both of her hands and jumped into his personal space, aiming the tips of her icy fingers at his neck. He blocked her forearms with his own and made small daggers of fire in each of his hands and they began to fight hand to hand, each one dodging and blocking the other with ease.

They went on like that for a while, moving around each other almost like a dance, neither one able to land a hit on the other. Katara's hair was falling out of where it had been tied back and began to stick to her neck, and looking over his face while he fought she saw beads of sweat moving down his face as well. His expression was so focused, his eyes locked steadfast on her face, as if he thought that she would let slip what her next move was. It was almost intoxicating, the way he was looking at her, and she couldn't make herself look away from him either. After a while he seemed to register that they were essentially having a staring contest in addition to their actual fight and he began to change his facial expressions into the most ridiculous poses. She had to fight back giggles, she was _not_ going to let him distract her. Suddenly his eyebrows quirked upward and she knew he was going to make a different move, and then everything happened very fast. Instinctually she pulled a huge wave of water from the fountain, but at the same time he dropped to the ground and swiped his leg under her feet and caused her to fall backwards. As she fell she managed to crash the wave from the fountain over both their heads as she grabbed his bicep and pulled him down to the ground with her.

The force of the wave she made pressed Zuko down on top of her so their chests were touching, and their legs got all jumbled up together - he was effectively pinning her to the ground. He propped himself up on his hands and looked down at her, their faces were still quite close and his hair, heavy with water, framed his face like a curtain as it dripped occasional drops of water onto Katara's face. Their eyes met and they both smiled smugly before each declaring "I win!" at the same time.

"What? No, I win!" Katara spoke first, "I drenched you with water, so I win!"

"No!" Zuko said, shaking his head and getting more water on her face, "I pinned you down, so I win!"

"What, no, that doesn't count! It's water versus fire, you got wet and I didn't get burned, so I win!"

"Oh, come on, you know I was never going to burn you! Those were not the rules!" he argued back, neither of them had made a move yet to untangle themselves.

"Are you saying you were going easy on me!?" she quipped back, getting a little annoyed now, she had wanted a fair fight.

"Of course not! But I'm not going to deliberately burn you just to win a sparring match!" his face was getting closer to hers again as his arms began to tire from holding himself up. "Besides, it doesn't matter anyway, because I pinned you, you can't move, therefore you can't bend, and _I win_ ," he said emphatically, allowing some of his weight to press down on to her to prove his point.

"Oh, please! I can get you off me any time I want!" she snapped back and his brow quirked up curiously, as if asking why then she hadn't done so. There was a slight pause as she realized what she had implied and she blushed furiously. "That's not what I – ugh!" she groaned and using a trick she had learned from Suki about how to get away from potential attackers, she bucked her hips up against his. At first his eyes widened bigger than she'd ever seen them, and she saw his cheeks flush bright red before she moved her hips again and he realized that she actually was knocking him off balance and would have him off her in no time. His eyes narrowed again in concentration and he tried to pin her shoulders back down, but her hand was still clutched to his bicep from when they fell and he couldn't get any leverage on her. They both began to struggle against each other, and groaned in frustration as she squirmed under him and he let more of his weight fall heavily on top of her.

It was then, with the two of them grunting and Katara obscenely pushing her hips against Zuko's that Sokka walked back into the courtyard. "Hey, Zuko buddy, how is this house so huge and there's not a single sharpening sto –" Sokka let out a loud scandalized gasp when he finally looked up from examining his sword to see the two of them. The pair on the ground whipped their heads at him in unison, both extremely aware of how it must look. "I _knew_ it!" Sokka yelled as he pointed with glee at his sister laying underneath his former enemy, "Suki! Come quick! I was right!"

With Zuko now fully distracted by Sokka's interruption, Katara tossed him off her with ease. She ran full speed toward her brother and tackled him to the ground, covering his mouth with her hand and silencing his continued calls to Suki about how right he was, "no you aren't! Nope! There's nothing going on!" she shouted in his ear adamantly.

Sokka immediately licked Katara's hand and she pulled it away from his mouth in disgust, "ugh, Katara, why are you all wet, now my clothes are all damp!" he complained, as if his discomfort was clearly the most pressing matter right now.

"Uhh, what is Sokka not right about?" Zuko said, now standing awkwardly in the middle of the courtyard, drops of water still slipping off him slowly, and his hair plastered to his forehead. In hindsight, jumping her brother for teasing her about Zuko was probably not the smoothest or most mature reaction to the situation, and Katara had to quickly come up with a cover.

"Uh, Sokka and Suki had made bets on our fight, and uh, Sokka bet that you would win, but I clearly won, so uhh, Sokka was wrong, and I had to prove my point just now by uh, taking him down too!" She replied, impressed with how quickly she came up with that lie. She turned and left the courtyard with her nose in the air before, and pulled Sokka into the house with her before either of them could say anything against her.

She vaguely heard Zuko mutter confusedly to himself about how Sokka hadn't even known they were going to spar, but she chose to practice selective deafness and continued into the house, marching her brother upstairs into his and Suki's room so that she could have a little chat with them both.

Suki opened the door from inside her room just as Katara was about to push it open. "Oh, hey Katara, what's up?" she asked, happy to see her friend.

"Did you say something to my idiot brother that you said you wouldn't mention?" Katara asked sternly.

"Uh, I don't know what you mean…" Suki responded, looking over the two of them for the first time since they walked in, "um, why are you guys all wet?"

"Katara and Zuko were rolling around on the ground practically humping each other, and then she threw me to the ground because I interrupted them!" Sokka said exasperated as he finally pushed further into the room to grab some dry clothes from his dresser.

Suki's eyed widened in shock as she turned her attention back to Katara, "you were doing _what_?" She had the faintest hint of a smile on her lips that Katara swore looked like pride.

" _No_ , that's _not_ what happened!" Katara threw a glare at Sokka, "Zuko and I were sparring and just happened to end up on the ground, and then Sokka came in implying that _other things_ were going on, and so I had to shut him up. But he shouldn't even know about certain things, unless someone else told him," she turned her glare back on Suki.

"I swear I didn't mention anything to Sokka, in fact I've been defending you against him all morning!" Suki replied, getting annoyed now about being accused of secret spilling.

"Okay, what is happening here guys?" Sokka said, now sitting on the edge of the bed with a clean shirt, "from what I'm hearing, you two had some sort of secret conversation about Zuko, and you," he pointed at Katara, "are freaked out enough about it to pummel me to the ground – all of which just further proves my theory that Katara and Zuko have been secretly been doing it since last week."

Katara's mouth hung open lamely. She had just been worried that Suki mentioned to Sokka that she thought Zuko was cute and was going to say or do something embarrassing that would make the whole group uncomfortable – this was way worse than she thought. "What!?" she gasped.

Sokka shrugged, "I mean you two have been sneaking out practically every night since we've gotten here, and last night he openly slept in your room, and just now out in the courtyard you were practically making out – it all fits. Suki and I were arguing were about it all morning, but she kept saying you weren't into it and I didn't buy it."

Katara just stared at the two of them before she started emphatically listing all of the reasons Sokka was entirely wrong, "first of all, we were not making out just now, we were arguing over who won the fight. Last night he stayed in my room because I was sick, and we haven't been _sneaking_ out, we've just happened to bump into each other and started talking. And before that he was teaching me how to meditate."

"Uh huh, then what is this secret thing you mentioned to Suki that you didn't want her telling me?" he asked, still not convinced.

At this, much to her chagrin, she blushed, "Suki noticed he and I went out to meditate too, but unlike you, she had the decency to _ask about it_ , instead of just making wild assumptions!" she said pointedly, "and I told her nothing was going on – _which it isn't_ – and then she and I both agreed that, objectively, Zuko is attractive." She tried to finish her sentence with confidence, knowing that if she said it with an air of nonchalance he'd be less likely to tease her, but her voice faltered slightly, and the blush was still present on her cheeks.

Sokka took a moment to think it all over while Suki still stood between them, looking unsure if she should speak up or not. Katara secretly hoped that mentioning Suki's agreement about Zuko's looks would distract Sokka from continuing to embarrass her, but unfortunately, he glossed right over it. "So… you want me to believe that you tackled me to the ground, just because you thought that I knew that you thought Zuko was hot, and I was going to tell him about it?" Katara took a moment to make sure she followed what he said correctly before she nodded feebly. "That was a pretty strong reaction to something so minor – you sure there isn't something else going on sis?" His voice had changed from its smug teasing tone to one of genuine curiosity and concern.

She let out a big sigh and went to sit next to him on the bed, "yeah I know, I feel really stupid about it now. It's just that things _just_ stopped being weird with Aang, and Zuko and I are sort of friends and I just don't want to deal with anymore weirdness with anyone – just because I think he's attractive it doesn't mean it _means_ anything."

Suki and Sokka exchanged a look before Suki came to sit on the other side of Katara on the bed, and she got the distinct impression that neither of them believed her.

"It _doesn't_!" she said firmly, "ugh this is so stupid! We have much more important things to worry about, we shouldn't even be arguing about this!"

Sokka and Suki had another silent conversation with their eyes, much to Katara's annoyance, before Suki spoke up, "you're right, it is stupid. We should all be focused on the war efforts," she nodded firmly before raising her eyebrow at Sokka.

He shrugged noncommittally, "eh, I'll try my best, but no promises – I'm the older brother, I live to tease." He gave a sly smirk and leapt up from the bed and scampered out of the room before Katara could get a chance to slap him across the shoulder.

She flopped backwards onto the bed, threw her arm over her eyes and let out a groan, "I just made this whole thing a lot worse, didn't I?"

"Yeah, I think so," Suki said, patting Katara's shoulder gently. "If it makes you feel any better, I'm pretty sure Zuko has no idea about any of this. Sokka was making all sorts of bad jokes about how fire and water make steam this morning and he just seemed to think Sokka was asking for cooking advice," she continued with a light laugh.

Katara scoffed, "you know, I'm really not sure if that makes me feel any better or worse."

"Yeah, I figured," Suki said consolingly, "just try and act normal and ignore Sokka. I really do think you're right, the end of the war is coming soon whether we like it or not, and then we really won't have time to worry about all this nonsense."

Katara laughed darkly, "is it bad that after all of the ridiculousness of the last few days, that I'm actually looking forward just kicking some Fire Nation butt, and nothing else?"

Suki laughed too, "nah, I'm pretty excited about it too." Katara lifted her arm from her eyes and smiled up at the older girl and she was glad once again to not be totally alone in all of this. Even with all the teasing, they were ultimately all on the same page.

\- \/\ -

It took all of Katara's restraint not to waterbend scalding tea into her brother's lap during dinner. As it turns out, he really wasn't making any promises about toning down the teasing, as he kept launching into lengthy metaphors about water and fire making steam and how steam could be useful in cooking eggs – Katara got a little lost in the middle but she was pretty sure he was making some sort of implication about baby making. Luckily, the only people at the table who seemed to have any idea what he was referring to were Toph and Suki. The latter of which was actively trying to change the topic while giving death glares to her boyfriend, and Toph was just snickering to herself uncontrollably. Aang thought Sokka was talking about how the Avatar could bend both water and fire and kept trying to interject about how maybe his Avatar abilities could help him become a better cook. Zuko just looked absolutely baffled, and ultimately seemed to decide that Aang's interpretation was the only thing that made sense and was trying to offer some tips about how to use firebending for domestic activities.

Having exhausted all of his vague food metaphors to no avail, Sokka moved on to what he thought would be a more direct approach, "so, that play the other night, man that thing had some great one-liners, 'oh I have to admit Prince Zuko, I really find you attractive!'" he said in a high pitched voice with a huge grin on his face, "oh, oh and what about, 'oh Zuko, your fire is so _hot_ inside me!?' Ah man, classic stuff!" He pretended to wipe a tear of laughter off his face while everyone else at the table stared at him in confusion and offense.

Zuko's face screwed up into a mixture of anger and realization and it looked like he was going to start yelling, but Aang spoke first, "ugh gross Sokka! When did the play ever say _that_?" Katara felt a small wave of relief, she had known that Aang left the theater around that time, and was glad to know that meant he hadn't seen how graphic that scene had gotten.

But her relief quickly vanished as Sokka began to explain, "oh, you know, that really _steamy_ scene in the middle of the play where Zuko and Katara were fu-"

Katara and Suki both jumped up from the table at the same time to interrupt him and declare that dinner was over. They began gathering up the plates, and Zuko joined them after a moment, while they all collectively ignored Toph's continued laughter and Aang's confusion about what just happened. Katara sent a well-deserved death glare at Sokka just as Suki pulled his ear to drag him upstairs – presumably to berate him about taking his teasing too far. Stacks of plates in hand, Katara and Zuko walked over to the kitchen in silence and began to wash the dishes.

She was surprised that he was willing to be standing next to her after her brother's ridiculous implications about them, and when she spared a glance over at him he looked like he was deep in thought, trying to figure out the right way to say something.

After a few minutes of cleaning in silence he put the plate he was holding down onto the counter somewhat forcefully, "okay, what the hell was all of that about!? Does Sokka have like a crush on me or something!?"

Katara burst out into laughter, _that_ was what he got from everything Sokka said? Suki was right, Zuko was really dense about interpreting Sokka's jokes. She dropped the plate she was rinsing back into the sink to clutch the counter as her laughter continued to wrack her body.

"What?" his eyes narrowed to a firm glare, and Katara waved her hands in front of her aimlessly, trying to signal it was nothing, but still unable to form words yet. "what else could that have been about!? At first I thought he was making fun of me because he was mocking that line from the play about me being attractive, but then he said the thing about the scene of us being _steamy_ and I realized that all that talk earlier about fire and water making steam was actually a stupid metaphor – and it explains why he'd been asking me all those questions this afternoon about whether I'd ever want to live in the South Pole!" he said with sudden realization. "What!? Why are you still laughing?"

She took a moment to compose herself before she was able to speak, "I mean, you're cute Zuko, but not cute enough to turn my brother gay," she shrugged slightly and continued to chuckle to herself as she picked up the next plate.

He looked at her confused again, "well then, what could he have possibly been on about?" he asked, still determined.

Katara's unease from earlier returned as she considered how best to answer his question. After a moment of thinking it over she dropped her plate again in exasperation and just blurted it all out, "ugh, he saw us in the courtyard today and jumped to the conclusion that we're sleeping together, and when I told him that wasn't true I sort of also told him I thought you were hot and now he won't shut up about it even though the whole thing is just stupid!"

She felt her cheeks burn as she realized she may have told him a little bit more than necessary, but Zuko continued to just look at her in confusion as he pieced everything together. "He thinks we're sleeping together!? But just last week you hated me!"

"Yes! Thank you!" she threw her hands up in the air, grateful he was on the same page.

A moment passed where neither of them spoke and Katara began to feel somewhat uneasy again. Even though Zuko hadn't said anything to make it weird, it was like there was something unsaid in the air between them now. Sokka's ridiculous idea that they were sleeping together was just floating around between them and she felt certain that they were both struggling to think about anything else, whether they wanted to or not.

Zuko chuckled softly to himself and shook his head ever so slightly, and Katara felt an overwhelming sense of vulnerability. She wasn't sure if she was really meant to see that, but she couldn't help but ask, "what?"

"When you're drunk you think I'm pretty, but when you're sober you think I'm hot?" he glanced over at her hesitantly, and after a moment she saw the slightest smirk curl on his lips and she realized that now he was teasing her too.

She turned to face him fully and let annoyance overpower her embarrassment, "it was just an objective observation! Go ask Suki, she agrees with me, so don't go getting all excited!" She glared at him a moment longer to see that she had given him exactly the reaction he had wanted and seemed thoroughly amused by her. She slapped him across the shoulder.

He rubbed his arm and held his other hand up in surrender, "alright, sorry. No more jokes. But maybe we should come up with something to get back at him?"

She glared at him a moment longer to emphasize her annoyance before she responded to him. "You could go along with you originally thought he meant at dinner tonight," Katara said, smiling wickedly, "you should just drop subtle hints that you know about his obvious massive crush on you?"

Zuko matched her smile and nodded, "that sounds like a great idea. He'll probably never stop messing with you and this way we can just turn it all back on him."

"Sounds like a plan," she nodded back and turned to the dishes again. If Sokka wanted to make things weird, they could make them even weirder, and then maybe she could get him to stop all together. She and Zuko discussed strategies of what he could do or say and they both agreed that they could probably get Suki on board too, she had reacted earlier as if Sokka's teasing had gone a bit overboard and Katara was sure she could get her to play along. By the time they had finished washing everything up they had come up with all sorts of possible scenarios in which to embarrass her brother and eventually found themselves sitting on the floor, leaned up against the cabinets laughing hysterically.

His eyes were scrunched up and his smile took up most of his face and she was reminded of all the faces he had been making earlier that day when he was trying to distract her during their sparring match. In those moments he seemed so young and free, and she realized she had never really heard him laugh like this before. He normally wavered somewhere between serious and flustered, and she found that she liked seeing him like this. Somehow, seeing him so light and full of life made her feel the same way too. And he was looking at her again in that way that made her feel like he was reading her thoughts, and she wondered briefly if he looked at everyone like that – if it was solely for her benefit, or if it was just part of who he was to dedicate his focus entirely to whoever was in front of him. She tried to tell herself the latter was more likely, as she had seen a similar resolve in him when he was bending, but when she saw the way his gold irises twinkled so intently she found herself secretly hoping it was just for her.

-/\/\/\/\/\/\\-

* * *

 **A/N: Thanks for reading everyone! I know this one is a bit shorter, but I wanted something that was a little bit lighter before we start into the finale episodes, which are coming up next. And I'm not going to lie, I struggled with this chapter a bit, I knew generally what I wanted to do with it but I had a lot of trouble getting to all go together in a way that made sense, which unfortunately made it take a little bit longer than I would have hoped. I'm still not totally happy with it, but I think it's as good as it's going to get, and I'm excited to move forward to some more dramatic stuff very soon.**

 **I also want to say thanks to everyone who's been reviewing! I read them all and I appreciate your comments so much, I'm so glad you guys are having fun reading it, it means a lot to me!**

 **I wanted to give a little bit of insight in Katara's feelings at this point. As I see it, at this point she doesn't fully realize that her feelings for Zuko are growing. I wouldn't say she's got a full on crush on him yet because she isn't willing to admit to any of the feelings she's having. I truly do believe that she's not ready yet to indulge herself like that - and she knows it, which was one of the big reasons she shot Aang down in the EIP episode, so I imagine whenever she finds herself thinking about Zuko in a more than friendly way, she immediately tries to shut it down. But at the same time she keeps gravitating toward him, she wants to hang out and be near him all the time, which is why she reacts so strongly to Sokka's teasing in the courtyard. She needs to convince everyone else there's nothing going on, so that she can better convince herself. Don't worry, she will realize her feelings eventually - I've got it all planned, but some other things need to happen first. I have thoughts about where Zuko's feelings are at this point too, but I don't want to give that away just yet, there's a lot more to come and I think it's better left unsaid for now. Everything is up to interpretation though of course!**

 **Like I said, this one's a bit shorter, coming in at 9,123 words, bringing us up to 62,113 words total. Also, I'm going on vacation for about two weeks in the beginning of February, so I'm going to try my best to get the next chapter up before I go so there isn't a huge wait between updates.**

 **Thanks again and as always, thoughts and comments are greatly appreciated! :)**


	7. On the Precipice

**In a New Light**

 **Chapter 7 – On the Precipice**

-/\/\/\/\/\/\\-

"More ferocious!" Zuko barked, "imagine striking through your opponent's heart!"

Aang was practicing some more circular agile firebending forms compared to the harsh strong movements they usually studied. Finding themselves bored being cooped up in the house, the rest of the group was lounging on the front steps watching Zuko teach Aang. Zuko seemed even surlier than he usually was. Katara was only vaguely paying attention to them, she had found some watermelons in their supply stash and thought it would be nice to make some drinks for everyone – minus the vodka this time.

"Now let me hear you roar like a tigerdillo!" Zuko commanded and Aang let out a weak roar of fire from his mouth and fists, "that was pathetic! I said _roar_!"

This time Katara looked up from what she was doing and saw Aang produce huge streams of fire from his hands and mouth. He looked pretty ferocious to her – even Momo seemed intimidated. Zuko only nodded his approval and Katara thought it would be an okay time for them to take a break, she had just finished making her drinks.

"Who wants a nice cool glass of watermelon juice?" she asked cheerfully, holding up the carved-out fruits.

Aang started to run toward her excitedly, but Zuko pulled him back by the collar of his shirt and held him up in the air, scolding him that their lesson wasn't over. Katara passed one of the watermelons to Sokka who sipped it idly while Suki suggested Zuko and Aang just take a break.

She had talked to Katara earlier that morning about Aang's idea to wait until after the comet came, and they had all agreed it seemed like the safest plan. However, now that they all knew they had as much time as they needed, they all had become pretty complacent.

Zuko let go of Aang and huffed off toward the trees next to the house, calling them all a bunch of snail-sloths as he went. Katara gave a watermelon to Aang and looked over at Suki who was giving her a concerned face – why did Zuko seem so stressed? It wasn't unusual for him to be short with them like that, but up until now he had been indulging all their shenanigans. Katara hoped there wasn't something wrong.

Agreeing with Zuko that they had definitely become lazier from lounging around the house, Sokka suggested they have a beach party and promptly ran down to the shore. Katara rolled her eyes, _of course_ her brother thought the solution to laying around the house was to lay on the beach instead. She stood and watched Zuko continue off toward the tree line for a moment, considering going after to him to ask what was wrong. But she had the sinking suspicion that Aang may not have told him about the new plan, he was the only one she hadn't talked to about it after all, and she didn't exactly want to bring up the news when he was already in a bad mood. Beach fun first, talk to Zuko later.

She ran down to the shore, taking off her top and pants as she went so that she was just in her underclothes. She jumped onto the surface of the water and made a board of ice underneath her to surf through the waves. Using the water below her to push her farther out she practiced some flips and twists on the board. She couldn't help but smile to herself, these waters were nothing like the water in the poles, the coolness of it wasn't sharp or biting, but refreshing against the hot humid air, and she was struck again by how unfortunate it was that other waterbenders only ever saw the Northern way of bending. Wanting to share the experience with someone she glided herself back to the shore looking for Aang, but when she got close she saw him running back toward the house, Zuko right behind him launching blasts of fire.

"What happened!?" she asked when she saw that no one had made any attempt to stop whatever chase was going on.

"Zuko's gone crazy! I made a sand sculpture for Suki and he destroyed it!... Oh, and he's attacking Aang," Sokka said simply.

Katara absentmindedly thought it was interesting that Zuko was trying to catch Aang again and they were all just letting it happen. And she realized she wasn't concerned either, her immediate reaction was that something must have set him off and it was probably just some dramatic teaching moment. _It's almost unbelievable how far we've come as a group in just a few weeks_ , she thought to herself before she ran back up the path to the house to make sure they were okay – teaching moment or not, she didn't want Zuko to accidentally burn Aang.

They reached the house just in time to see Zuko get blasted out of one of the second-story balcony windows.

"What's wrong with you!?" Katara asked, her voice shriller than she would have hoped, "you could have hurt Aang!"

"What's wrong with me!? What's wrong with all of you!?" he growled back, throwing his hands to the side, "how can you sit around having beach parties when Sozin's comet is only three days away!?"

Shit. Her hunch had been right, Aang hadn't talked to him about waiting. They all just stared back him, and Katara felt guilt wash over her, she wished she had told him sooner, or that she had pushed Aang to tell him. Not only was she sure he wasn't going to react well to essentially procrastinating, she knew how horrible he'd feel to know he'd been left out of such a major decision.

"About Sozin's comet," Aang started carefully, "I was actually gonna wait to fight the Fire Lord until after it came." Zuko looked shocked, but Aang continued, "I'm not ready. I need more time to master firebending."

Toph chimed in that his earthbending could still use some work too, and Zuko's face fell slightly, "So, you all knew Aang was going to wait?"

Sokka spoke up first, and Katara could hear the guilt in his voice too, "honestly, if Aang tries to fight the Fire Lord right now, he's going to lose… no offense."

"The whole point of fighting the Fire Lord before the comet was to stop the Fire Nation from winning the war, but they pretty much won the war when they took Ba Sing Se," Katara met his eyes and hoped that she was conveying how sorry she was that she indirectly left him out of the decision. Aang's point about Ba Sing Se essentially ending the war in victory for the Fire Nation was the main thing that swayed her to go along with this plan, and she hoped that it would help Zuko see that there was some thought behind this. "…Things can't get any worse."

"You're wrong…" Zuko said, turning away from them, "it's about to get worse than you can even imagine…" He told them of a war meeting he attended the day before the eclipse and how his father twisted his words about the Earth Kingdom citizen's hope into a plan to destroy the entire kingdom and turn the entire world into Fire Nation territory. "I wanted to speak out against his horrifying plan, but I'm ashamed to say I didn't… my whole life I struggled to gain my father's love and acceptance, but once I had it, I realized I had lost myself getting there. I had forgotten who I was."

Katara fell to her knees, she felt so heavy she thought she might fall through the ground too. Another genocide. Another culture entirely wiped out, she thought of the Air Nomads, the Southern Waterbenders, and even her mother – all completely gone, and for what? It was too horrible to even imagine. For the first time since the days following her encounter with Yon Rha, her hands began to shake, and she felt like she might be sick, "I – I, can't believe this…"

"I always knew the Fire Lord was a bad guy, but his plan is just pure evil…" Sokka said, but Katara barely even registered that he spoke. It was taking all her energy to just stay sitting upright. This morning she thought they had weeks more to prepare, and suddenly she was on the precipice of battle again – the fate of an entire people was weighing on their shoulders.

"What am I going to do?" Aang said, echoing Katara's own thoughts.

Zuko walked toward him, "I know you're scared, and I know you're not ready to save the world… but if you don't defeat the Fire Lord before the comet comes, there won't be a world to save anymore."

Katara wiped a few tears from her cheeks and hardened herself before she stood back up to face everyone. Aang was angry that Zuko hadn't told him about Ozai's plan earlier, while Zuko countered that no one had told him that Aang decided to wait either. Seeing how distraught Aang was brought Katara out of her own head, she saw him on his knees facing away from her and remembered how he first reacted after Ba Sing Se fell – he ran away because he thought he had to save everyone on his own.

"Aang, you don't have to do this alone," she said with as much confidence as she could muster. It was going to be difficult and terrifying, but if she'd learned anything from being with all of them, it was that they were all there for each other.

Toph agreed with Katara, and Sokka chimed in claiming that Team Avatar was back. Aang looked like he had found a new resolve, "fighting the Fire Lord is going to be the hardest thing we've ever done together… but I wouldn't want to do it any other way."

Her anxiety was still high, but Katara managed a smile as she walked over to pull everyone into a group hug. Everyone had their arms around each other except Zuko who stood awkwardly off to the side. She locked eyes with him and matched his intense stare, she wondered how many more times she'd have to explain this to him, "get over here Zuko. Being a part of the group means being a part of group hugs." His lips quirked up slightly and he walked over to put his arms around Suki and Toph's shoulders, giving Katara a firm nod of thanks too.

There was a familiar low growl from behind them as Appa came in and joined their hug, knocking them all to the ground. Everyone's limbs got all tangled together and they couldn't help but laugh, even Appa knew they were all in it together.

"Alright, alright! Enough of this mushy crap! Let's go make a plan to crush some Fire Nation heads!" Toph said from underneath Katara as she used her earthbending to bounce everyone back up onto their feet. Sokka and Suki followed Toph into the house, the three of them brainstorming ideas already.

"Okay! I'm just gonna go feed Appa first!" Aang said cheerily as he made an air scooter and flew off into the house toward the kitchen.

Zuko groaned, "only five minutes Aang! There's something else important I have to teach you today!" he called after him. Aang gave a quick thumbs up as he scooted past the door frame and out of sight. Zuko let out a sigh, "even after all that, he still gets distracted before we can practice," he said more to himself than to Katara.

Now that everyone else had gone back inside she felt her anxiety creep up on her again. The next few days were going to be so difficult, even with them all working together. She looked up at Zuko and saw a far off look in his eyes, she was sure he was worried about it all too. Another pinch of guilt hit her as she realized how hard it must be for him to have known about his father's awful plan this whole time. "Hey, I'm sorry no one told you that Aang was planning to wait until after the comet, when he explained it to me he said he wanted to tell all of us individually – I didn't realize he never actually told you and we shouldn't have left you out like that," she saw his eyes focus back on her as she spoke, coming back from wherever his thoughts had taken him.

He shook his head lightly, "it's okay, I should have told you about my father's plan sooner too, I just… I was so ashamed that I didn't speak out against him… I was worried you all would think I was still bad, or that I didn't change or something," he avoided her gaze as he mumbled.

Even though he was averting his eyes, she could see the truth of his shame written all over his face, as if he thought that staying silent in that war room made him unworthy of being a part of their group. She felt a wave of fierce protectiveness flash over her, after everything he had done for them since he joined, how could he think something like that made him worthless?

She reached out tentatively and wrapped her hand around his wrist, gesturing him to look at her, "Zuko… None of us blame you for not saying something to him. I mean, we could have used the information sooner, but none of us would ever want you to risk facing the cruelty of your father again," his eyes were back on hers again, his irises twinkling and she swore she saw a sliver of a tear forming in the corner of his eye. He didn't have to say it, they both knew they were thinking about the first time he spoke up at a war meeting, and she gave his wrist a tight squeeze.

He shook off her grip to properly slide his hand into hers and interlace their fingers, but he looked away from her again. "Maybe, but it was still selfish… I still could have done something to stop his plan," his voice sounded far away again and Katara began to worry how far his thoughts could take him.

"Maybe it was selfish…," she said quietly, and he turned back to her in surprise, "but it was the right thing to do." His eyes were hard on hers now, "there's nothing you could have done that day that wouldn't have ended in anything other than him hurting you or worse. And you are doing something to stop his plan – you're here fighting with us."

She offered a shy smile and he squeezed her hand back as a thank you. "Immediately after that meeting was when I decided to leave and join you all. I knew you were planning the invasion during the eclipse, and it was the perfect opportunity for me to face him before I went to find you guys," Katara listened closely as he spoke, he had never told any of them about the day he left, "I told him I thought he was wrong, that his plan for the Earth Kingdom was wrong, and… that burning me was wrong too… He didn't take to that very well, and he baited me into talking to him until the eclipse was over, and he shot lightning at me." Katara gasped and was about to ask how he survived when he continued talking, "my uncle had taught me a technique to redirect lightning, I uh, I don't think anyone else knows about it… uh, anyway, I shot it back at his feet and then I ran out to go find you guys," he voice faltered somewhat as he reached the end, he had realized how much he was talking and began to get self-conscious.

Katara wasn't concerned that he thought he was oversharing, she couldn't stop thinking about how his own father tried to kill him. And after he burnt half of his face, Zuko had the courage to face his father and tell him he was wrong. She felt a sense of pride swell in her chest, it was beyond impressive how far he had managed to come on his own. Tears welled up in her eyes and without thinking she closed the distance between them to burrow her head into his chest and wrap her arms around his middle. The force of her hug was a little bit more than she intended and Zuko wobbled backwards to stabilize himself before he wrapped his arms around her waist as well.

"He's… he's horrible," she said after a moment. She felt her hands begin to shake again and she clutched into the back of his shirt a little tighter, "we can't, we just can't let him win."

Zuko leaned forward to rest his chin on the top of her head, and when he spoke she felt his voice rumble through her body, "we won't," he said with resolve. "We'll just stay focused and do everything we can until the comet comes. And we need to stay positive until then too."

She pulled back from him slightly to meet his eyes and despite everything couldn't help the smile beginning to form on her lips, "did you of all people just tell _me_ that we need to stay positive?"

"Shut up," he rolled his eyes, but there was a soft smile playing on his lips too, "come on, I have to go teach Aang how to redirect lightning."

\- \/\ -

"If you let the energy in your own body flow, the lightning will follow it, you turn your opponent's energy against them," Zuko said as he demonstrated the motion, moving his right hand from his left, down to his stomach, and then back out to his right.

Aang's eyes lit up, "that's like waterbending!"

"Exactly. My Uncle invented this technique himself by studying waterbenders."

Katara's ears perked up at this, _when would Zuko's uncle have been able to study waterbenders?_ His uncle was supposed to be this great and feared general, but every time they ran into him he seemed kind and insightful. If he could teach Zuko something like lightning redirection by studying waterbending, then maybe she could learn something herself from studying firebending.

Aang was now mirroring Zuko's movements to learn the proper stances while he asked him what it felt like to redirect the lightning back at his father.

"Exhilarating. But terrifying," his face darkened, "you feel so powerful holding that much energy in your body, but you know if you make the wrong move, it's over."

Katara shuddered as she imagined it. To see the lightning coming right at you and to react in less than a second with only one chance to get it right. Just remembering the static in the air and the crackling of Azula's lightning as she shot down Aang made Katara's heart race and her body go rigid. She never wanted to experience that again, but now at least if she did, she knew Aang would have the preparation to throw it back at her.

Aang chuckled lightly, "well, not _over_ over, I mean, there's always Katara and a little spirit water action – am I right?"

Katara shook herself out of her thoughts at the mention of her name, "…actually, I used it all up after Azula shot you," she said bluntly. He needed to know the reality of the situation, if Ozai shot him with lightning she wasn't sure she'd be able to save him again. She had merely been a conduit for the spirit water to heal him, she wouldn't have even known how to begin healing him otherwise; lighting wounds weren't like surface burns, when she healed him, she felt the spirit water go through his chi directly to heal the damage that was done to his entire body. A lump rose in her throat as she remembered the feeling of his insides being fried all the way from his back through his chest and stomach down to his foot.

Zuko was now looking at Aang with an intense seriousness, "you'll have to take the Fire Lord's life," he paused, "before he takes yours."

Aang grimaced, "yeah… I'll just do that," he said looking at the ground.

Zuko started back toward the house, and Katara took another glance at Aang before deciding to follow Zuko inside. She knew Aang would come to the right decision, she had the utmost faith in him to end the war, but she knew how hard it would be for him to come to terms will killing Ozai and she figured he'd be better off thinking about it on his own for now.

Sokka was hunched over the dining table muttering to himself as he looked over the huge mass of papers he had sprawled across the entire length of the table. There were lists and graphs and a very detailed looking schematic of what Katara recognized as Caldera City. He also had somehow managed to color code everything.

"Dude, when did you have time to do all of this?" Zuko asked astonished as he rounded the table to look at it all from Sokka's perspective.

"Had a lot of it planned since the invasion, but had to make more maps and things in the last hour that are updated with notes from when we were there before, and I had to make this training schematic too so we could set up a practice arena for us to use today. Suki and Toph are out scouting a location to set up now," Sokka explained all in one breath. His eyes were wild as he filtered through the papers to show them a much sloppier version of the Caldera schematic that had small drawings of all of them in various positions.

"You've got to calm down man," Zuko said, sitting on the cushion next to Sokka and giving his shoulder a soft pat, "we've got three days, there's plenty of time for us to go over this all together."

Katara sat down across from them both, "yeah Sokka, this all looks great, it's going to be okay." In all honesty she wasn't really sure what to make of all of his haphazard papers, but she knew it meant he had a plan and that was good enough for her. He looked at her, his eyes still frantic, and she gave him a firm nod, which calmed him somewhat. "Why don't you tell us what you have in mind?" she suggested kindly.

"Okay, so, I figure that the best way for the Fire Lord to torch the Earth Kingdom would be by using those airships Azula keeps getting her hands on," Katara and Zuko both cringed at Sokka's bluntness, but didn't interrupt – his tone had gone into full-on guy-with-the-plan mode, "and it'll be way harder for us to take down all of those airships with just Appa, so I thought we could cut them off before they even get there, and take down the Fire Lord before he leaves to get on one of the ships – Zuko, your dad usually has some sort of royal procession before he leaves the country like that right?"

"Err, yeah he does, but," Zuko paused and rubbed the back of his neck, "you remember how slow those ships are, it would take twice as long for him to get to the Earth Kingdom than it would for us to get there on Appa, so actually… he'd probably have them at a base somewhere closer to the Earth Kingdom that he'd have to sail to first… which means that he'll probably be leaving the Caldera some time tomorrow…" Zuko said, thinking it over.

Sokka nodded, "right, so that's why that's just Plan A, and why I had Suki and Toph go set up a trial area so quickly, we can start practicing today then head out at first light tomorrow – the Caldera isn't a far Appa ride from here. And then if we don't make it in time or something goes wrong with plan 'surprise-the-Fire-Lord-and-sweep-him-off-his-feet' then we'll just move on to Plan B, 'giant-exploding-airships-in-the-sky.'"

Katara and Zuko looked at each other and rolled their eyes at Sokka's ridiculous plan names, and Zuko opened his mouth to tease him about it, before Katara cut in over him, "that's sounds great, Sokka. What do you need from us?"

"Well, actually," Sokka's mouth turned up in a smirk, "since water and fire make such a _steamy_ combination, I was thinking you two could team up during our training this afternoon and we can see how that works out," he looked mischievously between the two.

Zuko and Katara looked at each other again, and Katara knew they were thinking the same thing. They had decided last night, that the next time her brother emphasized the word ' _steamy_ ' like he had at dinner, they would put their plan into action. It involved a lot of Zuko having to flirt pretty obviously with Sokka, and while it had seemed like a hilarious idea the night before, Katara wondered if Zuko would be able to pull it off now. He seemed to fumble his way through a lot of non-flirting conversations with her all the time – fake flirting was sure to be a disaster, and would probably end up back firing on him completely. _At least the attention will be off me for a while_ , she thought to herself with suppressed glee.

"Yeah, uh, fire and water do make a pretty, uh, _steamy_ combination, don't they?" Zuko said, looking back at Sokka, trying to match his emphasis on the word. The two stared at each other for a moment, Sokka getting more confused by the second, wondering why Zuko was suddenly going along with his implication that his sister was doing it with him.

"Uh, yeah buddy, that's what I've been saying…" Sokka said slowly, trying to read Zuko's face, and ultimately shifting away from his uncomfortable gaze.

Zuko glanced over at Katara who nodded enthusiastically for him to keep going – she knew her brother would get the message sooner or later, and then he'd learn his lesson about teasing them; and so far, Zuko's fumbling had come off as sincere, rather than lying.

Looking back at Sokka, Zuko spoke again, "uh, yeah, well, speaking of uh, _that_ , I've been thinking about what you said yesterday about going to the South Pole," he swallowed for dramatic effect, "and uh, I'd love to go with you." He stared at Sokka a moment longer and then unceremoniously dropped his hand onto the other boy's thigh, just above his knee.

Sokka gaped at him, he looked at Zuko's face, down to the hand on his knee, and back up to his face again in shock. Katara had to put her hand over her mouth to stop herself from laughing out loud, and she saw the slightest upturn of Zuko's lip, suggesting that he was having trouble keeping it together too.

"Uhhh, sorry man, but that's not uh, not what I meant…" Sokka used his pointer finger and his thumb to lift Zuko's hand off his lap and drop it down next to his side, while he still stared at him wide-eyed, unsure how else to politely turn him down.

Katara wondered for a moment if Zuko would be able to keep the ruse going, but watched as Zuko leaned in a little closer to her brother and rested his hand on the ground behind his back. "It's okay Sokka, Suki isn't here right now, you can tell me the truth," he must have gained some confidence in realizing the plan was working because his words came out stronger than before, but as he leaned closer he couldn't keep the smile from forming on his face.

Sokka was leaning away from him at the same speed Zuko was leaning forward, until he eventually fell rather ungracefully onto his side on the other cushions next to the table, and Katara and Zuko burst into laughter.

Springing up off the ground like a gophermole, Sokka glared down at them, "what just happened!? What's going on!?" His voice had gone all squeaky and sent Katara into another fit of laughter.

He continued to stare at them impatiently, waiting for a response. Katara righted herself in her seat and took a few deep breaths before she was able to speak, "okay, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but you _deserved_ it after all that shit you were giving me in front of everyone at dinner last night!"

"So, what, if you two hadn't started laughing just now, you were just going to let me believe that Zuko was in love with me!?" he asked incredulously.

"In all fairness dude, all that stuff you said last night about fire and water and steam and going _on_ and _on_ about how you thought I was attractive, I thought _you_ had a crush on _me_ ," Zuko said, holding his hands out in front of himself defensively, his smile still plastered to his face.

"But I also said all that stuff about how steam helps cook eggs! How is you and I making steam supposed to end up leading to babies!?" Sokka asked, throwing his hands up exasperated.

"Yeahh, I had no idea what the fuck you were talking about at that point," Zuko said with a shrug.

Sokka looked more hurt that his baby making joke didn't land than he did by the entire situation of them trying to trick him. His eyes narrowed as he looked between them again, "so wait… you're telling me, that in response to my teasing you two, you both stayed up all night coming up with ways to distract me from thinking that you guys are doing it? Yeah, I don't buy it, you two are definitely shacking up."

Katara groaned loudly and smacked her palm to her head; she heard Zuko mumble to himself something about that was _definitely not_ what their plan had been at all, and that they didn't stay up all night either.

She was about to loudly oppose her brother's opinion, but on second thought realized that was what had gotten her into this awkward situation in the first place, and instead opted to respond to him as calmly as she could. "Fine Sokka, think whatever you want. What Zuko and I do or don't do together isn't any of your business anyway. And you should just know that from now on, any time you mention anything involving _steam_ , we," she gestured between herself and Zuko, "are going to make sure everyone else knows about your big-ole gay crush on the Prince of the Fire Nation."

Knowing her brother was successfully placated, she crossed her arms with satisfaction before she looked over and saw the slightly awe-struck look on Zuko's face. She felt her ears heat up as she realized she had basically just implied to her brother that she and Zuko were in fact together – and while she and Zuko knew that wasn't true, he easily could have interpreted her words to mean that she wouldn't have been against it if it were true. In keeping with her attempt at nonchalance, she kept her face placid and didn't flinch when her brother looked suspiciously between them one last time before sitting back down to go over the rest of the plans.

\- \/\ -

Katara, Sokka, Zuko and Aang trekked up one of the cliffs that rose up behind the house to where Suki and Toph had set up their battle practice. It had taken them a little while to find where they actually were, and with Sokka's detailed explanations of his various plans taking up most of the afternoon, it was almost sunset by the time they reached the clifftop.

It was a narrow space, but still wide enough to give them all a lot of room to work with, and it had a flat area right at the top that would serve well as the Fire Lord's departure spot. Suki and Toph had even set up a little straw man as a stand in. It looked like it was going to work well for Sokka's training ideas.

When they reached the peak of the cliff Sokka turned to them, "gather 'round Team Avatar!" he said as he plopped a carved watermelon down on top of the straw man's neck. The group sat collectively on the ground in front of him and looked up at Sokka expectantly. "In order to defeat the Fire Lord – or in this case, the Melon Lord – our timing has to be perfect," he knelt down to the ground and began to draw out his strategies in the dirt, "first, Suki and I will draw his fire, then Katara and Zuko charge in with some liquidy-hot offense." He glanced up quickly to glare at the two of them and they quietly stifled laughter at his purposeful avoidance of the word 'steam,' and Katara thanked the spirits that her brother was actually capable of shutting up. Sokka explained the rest of the tactics then everyone headed down to their positions at the bottom of the hill leading to the cliff.

Katara was crouched behind a rock with Zuko kneeling in front of her when they heard Toph's enthusiastic maniacal laughter echo down to them – she was taking her role as Melon Lord very seriously. Sokka signaled for them to start moving, so while he and Suki ran up from the left, she and Zuko began up on the right, making sure to crouch and stay hidden whenever they could. When they were about halfway up the field, Zuko looked behind at Katara to signal they should slow down. They perched themselves on a ledge and watched Sokka and Suki take down the earth soldiers Toph sent speeding at them. But when she sent a flaming rock down and almost flattened Sokka, Katara and Zuko nodded at each other and jumped down in unison to take over.

They ran straight through the middle of the area, splitting off from each other only momentarily to dodge another of Toph's flaming boulders. When they ran back to meet each other in the center, Toph surrounded them with more of her earth soldiers and Katara instinctively turned so that she and Zuko were facing away from each other and could take out both sides of the encroaching circle at once. She pulled water out of the three water skins she had slung over her back and quickly sliced through the soldier shaped rocks in front of her. Feeling the heat of Zuko's fire blasts from behind her she turned back to him to see that he had taken his enemies out as well. Their eyes met briefly and she matched his fierce gaze with a smirk before they both started running up the hill toward the Melon Lord again.

As they reached the end of the training area to take out Toph's remaining soldiers, Sokka called to Aang to bring in the finishing blow. Once the remaining soldiers were taken care of, they all crouched behind one of the cliff's rock formation to see Aang glide in and strike his staff down at the Melon Lord's head. But at the last second, he stopped, his face turned away in guilt and shame.

"What's wrong with you!?" Sokka said, approaching Aang with frustration, "if this was the real deal you'd be shot full of lightning right now!"

"I'm sorry, but it just didn't feel right" Aang replied, eyes still cast down, "I didn't feel like myself."

Katara felt a groan of annoyance build in her throat, but she kept it down. She knew Aang could do it, because he _had_ to do it – there was no other way to win the war. She didn't want to step on his beliefs or force him into anything, but she was getting increasingly more and more frustrated that he was putting his own beliefs ahead of the needs of the entire world. While she wasn't exactly thrilled about the idea of Aang killing someone either, she didn't really see what other choice he had, and they were running out of time for him to feel comfortable with it.

Sokka's eyes were still hard on Aang as he turned and used his sword to slice the Melon Lord's head in half, letting it roll clumsily to the ground, where Momo began to snack on it. "There! That's how it's done!" Sokka practically yelled at Aang.

Momo was still slurping the watermelon half and the longer Katara looked at it, the more gruesome the image became as she imagined it really was the skull of the Fire Lord. Anger boiled in her stomach as her feelings began to war inside her. She was angry that Aang was unwilling to do what needed to be done, but more so, she was angry at herself for being angry in the first place. He was her friend and he was just a kid, it wasn't fair that he had been set such a difficult task. She had made that big statement earlier today about doing this together, but none of them were showing him any kind of support at all. But when she thought beyond just Aang, she knew they were all doing the right thing, he needed to know how important it was to end the war permanently, and she hoped one day he would understand their harshness.

Deciding that Sokka had said enough harsh words to Aang for now, she instead suggested they all just try the run a few more times to see if it helped Aang feel any better. More scolding wouldn't help him right now, and the best thing Katara could do for him was to just let him be and focus on getting herself as prepared as she could so that she could protect him if he needed it during the real battle.

Everyone agreed that giving it another try would be a good idea, even Aang nodded begrudgingly and headed back to his starting position. They trained for another hour or so as the sun slowly set and the sky darkened around them.

She and Zuko fell naturally into place and began to switch up their strategies as they went, alternating between who would take the lead to see what worked out best. Her adrenaline was pumping fast and the cool evening air felt amazing as it ran through her hair, it was exhilarating to use her waterbending for combat like this. She and Zuko rarely had to speak to each other either, they were able to communicate entirely through glances and body language – it felt surprisingly comfortable to fight by his side.

"Steam jokes aside, we do actually make a pretty good team," she said to him as they followed the rest of the group back to the house.

He chuckled, "yeah I guess we do." He smiled at her lightly, but he had that far off look in his eyes again.

"Are you worried if Aang'll be able to do it?" Katara guessed. He had gotten closer to finishing the job during a few of their practice sessions, but he still never managed to actually do any damage to the severed Melon Lord. He grew more and more frustrated as he went and they all decided it was a good idea to call it quits once the sun had finally set.

"Hm, no," Zuko paused, his voice distant, "well, yes and no. I'm just worried about all of it I guess… I think when it comes down to it, Aang will make the right decision, he always has. But what about everything else, what happens after?" he looked over at her and in the moonlight she could barely make out his features; something she thought looked like longing was pooled in his eyes.

Katara hadn't thought much about what happens after the war, she was too preoccupied with ending it. Things would be better, she was sure of that, but otherwise it was just a big empty slate of time stretched out in front of her. Now that she imagined it, it did seem kind of daunting.

"I don't know…" she said softly, "but I think it's better if we just focus on what we need to do next for now," she offered a small smile which he returned.

"Katara!" her brother whined from where he was walking a few paces ahead of her, "what's for dinner!?"

She sighed and rolled her eyes, "maybe after the war my brother will finally learn to cook for himself," she muttered to Zuko, who rolled his eyes along with her, before she called back to Sokka. "I'll worry about dinner, you guys just start packing everything you can while I cook!"

"Aww, that means plain rice and veggies again," Sokka said dejected to Suki, who patted his shoulder consolingly.

\- \/\ -

Katara cooked dinner as fast as she could while mentally going over everything she needed to bring for when they leave the house tomorrow. The only meat they had left in the pantry was the rest of the dried rhino jerky, and since that would last them for a while she wasn't going to cook it tonight. There were a few bags of rice left too, and that was about it for non-perishables. It wasn't much, but they'd gone longer on less before, it wouldn't be too much of a struggle. It would be nice to take some of the pots and pans with them though, it would make impromptu stir-fries a lot easier while they camped. The ones she'd been using during their stay on Ember Island were all heavy and ornate. She gave everyone their dinner bowls where they were eating in the courtyard and went back inside and up to the attic to see if they had a spare kitchenware set that would be more suitable for traveling.

As soon as she entered the attic she realized it was going to be a bust. It was pitch black and, once again, all the sconces were meant to be lit with firebending. Having brought neither of the two people who could bend fire up with her, she began to fumble around the room awkwardly with her hands outstretched, hoping not to fall over.

Her finger tips found the wall and she began to walk forward, using the rough wood as a guide. She had only taken a few steps when her shin rammed into something hard. She tumbled over whatever she tripped on, and swore as her other knee hit the ground with a sharp pain. Without getting up she ran her hands over the object of her misfortune and discovered it was a chest of some kind. _Maybe this'll have everything I need and I won't have to trip over anything else,_ she thought vaguely to herself.

The latch at the front of the chest was heavy, but came undone easily. Pushing the lid open she coughed as a wave of dust hit her throat and she carefully reached her hand inside, suddenly very aware that this was a random trunk in the Fire Lord's vacation house – there could be all sorts of terrifying weapons or worse in here.

Tentatively brushing her hand over everything, she let out a sigh of relief as she found there was nothing dangerous, but instead felt the familiar sensation of parchment paper. The trunk was full of old scrolls. It was a bit odd, she didn't imagine Ozai to be much of a reader or a scholar – he seemed like the type to give that sort of work to everyone else.

Curious, she grabbed one and unrolled it. Even though her eyes had begun to adjust somewhat to the darkness of the room, she still had to hold it up to the stream of moonlight coming through the window to even begin to make out what was on it. It wasn't a reading scroll at all, it was a portrait of a woman. She was stunning, but solemn, and there was something familiar about her. Katara gasped quietly with her hand over her mouth as she realized this must be a portrait of Zuko's mother – she had the same soft expression that he wore when he was trying to conceal his feelings.

She rolled it back up and set it down beside her to take down with her when she left. She put her hand back into the chest and began looking through the rest of the papers. They were all portraits of what Katara guessed were various members of the royal family – she didn't recognize many of them. There wasn't much sentimentality to it, all this history piled up unceremoniously in a dusty chest in the attic; she wondered vaguely if that was a genetic trait. Then she remembered the portrait of Iroh that Zuko kept in his pack and she shook her head, whoever left these up here to be eaten by moths might not have cared about memory or family, but Zuko did. She'd make sure she got the portrait of his mother to him.

The next roll she pulled out was a portrait of a smiling baby, he must have been less than a year old and she could almost hear the laughter from when it was drawn. She smiled to herself as she recognized the shape of his eyes and she was sure it was Zuko. Having seen the rest of the portraits, she piled them all back into the trunk, scooped up the two she wanted to take with her and raced back to the others. She dropped the portrait of Zuko's mother off in her room first, then headed out to the courtyard where everyone was still eating their dinner in relative silence.

"I've got a surprise for everyone!" she said cheerily, clutching the scroll. Seeing your friends baby pictures was always fun and mildly embarrassing, she was sure it would lighten everyone's mood.

"I knew it! You did have a secret thing with Haru!" Toph piped up immediately, as if she had been waiting for the right moment to say that.

"Uhh, no," Katara responded bluntly, and she moved on quickly before her brother decided to add a new boy to his list to tease her about. "I was looking for cooking pots in the attic, and I found this!" she unfurled the paper, "look at baby Zuko! Isn't he _cute_."

Everyone laughed lightly, but Zuko looked disgruntled, "oh lighten up, I'm just teasing," Katara said, smirking.

"That's not me," he said simply, "it's my father."

Katara grimaced and mouthed 'oops, sorry' to Zuko as she rolled the scroll back up awkwardly.

"But he looks so sweet and innocent…" Suki said.

"Well that sweet little kid grew up to be a monster," Zuko said almost nonchalantly. "And the worst father in the history of fathers," he added as an afterthought.

"But he's still a human being." Aang spoke for the first time from where he was sitting with his back to them.

"You're going to defend him?" Zuko turned toward him, surprised.

"No, I agree with you," Aang stood to face everyone, "Fire Lord Ozai is a horrible person, and the world would probably be better off without him, but… there's gotta be another way."

"Like what?" Zuko countered, his brow furrowing.

"I don't know… Maybe we could make some big pots of glue, and then I could use gluebending to stick his arms and legs together so he can't bend anymore," Aang said rather quickly, hope flashing across his face.

Zuko matched Aang's expression, "yeah! Then you could show him his baby pictures and all those happy memories will make him good again!"

Everyone else laughed at his obvious sarcasm, but the stone in Katara's stomach began to grow heavy again with concern. He was only going to make this situation worse by poking fun at Aang and she wasn't sure a confrontation was the best way to handle this when there's so little time left.

Aang's face lit up, "do you really think that will work?"

"No!" Zuko said forcefully, his face lowering back to its usual frown.

Aang's face fell and his shoulders slumped. He began pacing in front of them, "this goes against everything I learned from the monks – I can't just go around wiping out people I don't like!"

"Sure, you can! You're the Avatar!" Sokka said a little too cheerfully, "if it's in the name of keeping balance, I'm pretty sure the universe will forgive you."

Katara agreed with Sokka, Aang was thinking about it all too personally. He wasn't the only one who 'didn't like' Ozai, and taking down one evil warlord was not going to send him down a dishonorable path. It was the only way to bring balance back.

But Aang was shaking with anger – Katara had never seen him like this. "This isn't a joke Sokka! None of you understands the position I'm in!" Aang shouted.

Katara's anger flared again. She had been biting her tongue all day, trying to find the best time and the right way to talk to him about this, some way to let him know that they understood and were on his side, but at the same time they were all counting on him to do this. They'd all been walking on eggshells around him and him throwing it back in their faces now was enough for her own anger to start to boil over. "Aang, we do understand, it's just – "

"Just what Katara!? What!?" he cut her off.

"We're trying to help!" she snapped back at him, her face contorted into a scowl.

"Then when you figure out a way for me to beat the Fire Lord without taking his life, I'd love to hear it!" he yelled, throwing his arms up in the air and stomping off back toward the house.

Anger was cool as it coursed through her veins, "Aang, don't walk away from this!" She moved to go after him and make him talk to her when she felt a warm hand gently squeeze her shoulder.

"Let him go," Zuko's voice was soft and placating, she stood straight to look back at him, "he needs time to sort it out by himself."

Katara wanted to huff in protest, _didn't he have enough time to think by himself all day!?_ But she saw the calm in Zuko's eyes, and the wariness in everyone else's, and let her shoulders fall to relax. He was right, it probably was enough fighting for one night.

The tension of the argument still hung in the air, and Katara's heart was racing. "I'm going to go start packing up my room," she said quietly, looking for an escape. Aang had never yelled at her like that before, and admittedly, it stung; she wanted to be alone right now too.

She scampered into the house and up the stairs, resisting the urge to stomp her feet as she went. She slammed the door to her room and began pacing around in a circle. A little over two days now until the comet comes – they're supposed to leave _tomorrow_ to go face the Fire Lord and Aang _still_ doesn't know if he can do it. _We're so close… it's so close to being over…_ Her blood was rushing like rapids through her ears, she clenched her fists and let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding.

Her thoughts began to quiet and she could pick up the sound of her brother's voice whispering outside in the courtyard. All it took was for her to overhear the word 'she' for Katara to cross her room and close her sliding door tightly. If they were talking about the fight, she didn't want to hear it.

She rested her head on the wood next to the screen door and closed her eyes to take deep breaths in through her nose and out through her mouth. _It's okay, it's okay, it's okay… Aang will come around, he always does…_ she repeated to herself, willing it to be true.

After a few minutes she collapsed down onto her bed and felt the crunch of paper underneath her. _Oh right, the portrait._ She wasn't exactly in the mood to converse with anyone, but she didn't feel right just keeping it in her room all night when there was no good reason not to give it to him now. Smoothing it out and rolling it neatly again, she clutched it in her hand and crossed through their shared bathroom to knock softly on Zuko's door, secretly praying he hadn't come up yet so she could just leave it on his bed.

"Uh, yeah?" his voice asked apprehensively from the other side.

She pushed it open carefully and found a small relief that he was packing up some of his things. Just the knowledge that he was still moving forward with the plan to leave tomorrow made her believe there might still be some hope. He was looking up at her from where he was crouched in front of his dresser, looking at her like she was a bomb that could go off at any second.

"I uh, well uh, when I found that portrait of your dad in the attic I also found this," she held the scroll out to him, "and well, I thought you'd want to have it, I wasn't sure if you already had one or not…"

His brow furrowed in confusion and he stood to take the paper from her. He unrolled it and his expression softened in realization. "I did have one… but I left it at the palace when I left… She's younger in this one, I barely remember her this young…" his eyes didn't leave the paper as he spoke, "thank you."

"What was her name?" Katara asked softly – she only just realized she didn't know it.

"Ursa."

"Like the mother bear," Katara said thoughtfully.

"Huh?" Zuko said, finally looking up from his daze.

Katara laughed lightly, "maybe it's a Water Tribe thing – but there's this constellation that my people always thought looked like a family of bears, and the mother was called Ursa."

"But… that makes no sense," he said matter-of-factly, "what did my grandparents see her after she was born and think 'hm this baby will make a good mother' – besides, in the Fire Nation we don't name the stars after animals, they're just numbered by section of sky."

Katara rolled her eyes, he didn't seem offended but he was certainly ruining the sincere moment. "Well who knows, maybe your grandparents read about it in a stolen scroll or something and just thought it sounded nice, who knows – my point was that it seems to fit her, it's kind of nice."

He rolled up the paper again and thought it over as he sat on the edge of the bed, "well… my great-grandfather would have had to travel to one of the Water Tribes, so I guess it is possible…"

"Wait, what?" It was Katara's turn to be confused, that would have been before the war, but still, she couldn't imagine that their nations were ever friendly. "Why would your great-grandfather have gone to the Poles?"

"Um, my mother's grandfather was Avatar Roku," Zuko said with a shrug.

Katara's mouth hung open, "holy shit – you're joking."

He chuckled at her reaction, "my Uncle says that's why it's my destiny to help bring balance back. Something about how my lineage is at war with itself and if I can find balance within myself then I can help give it back to the world?"

"Does this mean Aang is like, your great-grandpa?" she blurted out eagerly, lifting her legs onto the bed to sit cross-legged and face him fully.

"What? No. Definitely not – don't tell him that!" he protested with his hands.

"Oh, I think we should go tell him!" she laughed. Zuko shook his head vigorously, putting his hands together as if he was praying and Katara paused and her smile faded. "Well, I guess I'm not gonna be telling him anything right now anyway," she said, remembering the argument that brought her back upstairs in the first place.

Zuko let out a sigh, "I was actually sort of surprised that wasn't what you wanted to talk about when you came in. I thought you were gonna rip my head off for telling you not to go after him," he rubbed the back of his neck.

She shook her head, "you were probably right, yelling at him more wasn't going to help anything. Mostly I just don't want to think about it anymore."

"Oh, so we're distracting ourselves again?" he asked, his eyebrow raised teasingly.

"No, not distracting per se… more like, defocusing on the situation for right now," she said unconvincingly.

"Good, because the last time I agreed to help you distract yourself I had to watch you waterbend vomit from a bucket and out the window and I'd really rather not experience that again," he shivered in disgust.

Heat rose to her cheeks and she covered her eyes with her hands, "I did that too!? How many other embarrassing things did I do that you haven't told me about?"

"Well let's see, there was the refusal to take water, the dramatic removal of our masks and setting them 'free,' the previously mentioned vomitbending – oh, and you tried to get me to dance again, saying something about how Sapphire Fire didn't need music to have a good time," he listed them all out his fingers with a smile.

Katara fell back to flop on the bed and let her arm cover her eyes, "I don't like this distraction," she groaned, "you don't have to seem so smug about it."

She felt his laughter rock the bed slightly, "okay, okay I'm done."

Katara only grunted in response and didn't move to get up just yet, she was pretty sure if she looked at him he'd still be sporting that stupid smile he wore whenever he was embarrassing her.

"Did you really think that drawing of my father was me?" Zuko asked after a moment.

She peeked a look at him to see that he wasn't teasing her anymore and was genuinely asking. "In my defense it was really dark in the attic and all babies kind of look alike," she said as she sat back up.

"It's an easy mistake to make," he said with a shrug, "everyone used to tell me I looked just like him and he hated that. Any notion that we were similar would set him off. But people stopped saying we looked alike after…"

He trailed off but Katara could fill the blanks in easily and she felt her heart tug for him again, "Zuko… I'm sure that's not why he… I mean, even Ozai couldn't be _that_ petty."

"You're probably right – the new lack of resemblance was probably more of a happy side-effect," he said bitterly, his eyes glued to the floor. "But it doesn't really matter why anymore. The point is that he was wrong," his voice regained its firmness, but Katara wondered if part of Zuko was still trying to convince himself that was true. She wondered if hurt like that ever truly left a person.

"What is like," she paused, "to know that to end the war, Aang has to kill your father?"

"I don't know exactly," he turned back to her, "I feel like I _should_ care, but when I think about it I just feel nothing. I don't know what that says about me… It will be strange to go back to the palace and know that he's never coming back, that he isn't just lurking around some corner…"

"I think that's brave of you… You don't owe him anything, and he definitely doesn't deserve your sorrow," she said, holding his gaze.

"I know," he said firmly, "sometimes it's hard to remember, but I know."

Katara wondered if that was why Zuko so often switched between calling him 'my father,' and 'the Fire Lord;' it made it easier to comes to terms with what Aang would have to do.

"What about you, how are you feeling about everything?" Zuko asked tentatively.

His question took her by surprise, people rarely asked how she was doing, she was usually the one doing the asking. "I – uh, I'm scared," she said breathlessly, the truth of it hitting her as she said it. His comment earlier about what happens next had stuck with her and she hadn't even realized it. "I'm scared that we won't all make it, and I'm scared about what comes after if we do make it…" she felt incredibly vulnerable to admit it to herself, let alone out loud, and she had trouble meeting his eyes again.

Zuko matched her actions from that morning and hesitantly reached out and gently placed his fingers on the back of her hand. "I know what you mean, we're all scared too. And what you said earlier about Aang not having to do this alone – that goes for you too. You aren't alone," he gave her hand a light squeeze.

Tears stung her eyes, but she didn't let them flow over as she met his gaze again. Sometimes she felt like she was the only one holding the group together and it was comforting to hear her own words repeated back to her, to know she had been heard. The look in his eyes pulled on her heart once more and she knew that he truly meant his words, she could actually _feel_ how much he understood what she was feeling. He wanted this war over just as desperately as she did – would do anything to see it happen – but was equally as scared of what they could lose in the process.

They sat there like that for a few moments as he lightly stroked the back of her hand with his thumb, the silence pressing against them like a warm blanket. It was like she was watching them from above, the two of them sitting cross-legged at the foot of his bed and her hand in his. He rarely reached out to anyone first, and his openness had taken her by surprise. The roughness of his fingers felt familiar now, she found she liked the weight of his hand in hers. She felt herself wanting to lean into him further, to be enveloped in the comfort of the moment. But when the feeling reached her consciousness a blush crept up her cheeks and she felt a surge of panic. When she had pictured the two of them from outside eyes the night of the play, with his arm around her as they sat on the stairs, the image made her smile at how people could see them as something more – that she could be someone who was free and unafraid. But now the picture of she saw of them terrified her – it felt so _real_. Before, she had only been entertaining the idea of getting lost with him, but now she felt herself wanting to follow that path and it was too much. He was so solid and whole in front of her, and she felt like an arrow trying pin down the wind. She had to get out.

She cleared her throat awkwardly to wake him from his daze and she carefully slid her hand out from under his. "Um, well, thanks," she said as she stood up, trying her best to seem casual, "we should uh, finish packing, early morning and everything."

He looked up at her with slight confusion, "uh, yeah, right… uh, goodnight?"

"Goodnight," she said with a nod and a tight smile as she crossed the room.

"Uh, Katara?" he asked when she reached the door.

"Hm?"

"Are you gonna be okay?" he asked sincerely.

Her face softened and she gave him a real smile, "yeah, thanks."

She closed the door behind her and fell into bed, burying her face in the pillow. _What the fuck was that!? Just a weird one-time thing – he was being nice and you reacted to that, nothing else. You were talking about how you were scared and he comforted you – nothing even happened, you're being silly, just calm down!_ She let out a groan muffled by the fabric of the pillow and willed her brain to shut up. She was going to have to be more careful around Zuko from now on.

\- \/\ -

Katara woke up early the next morning to finish up the packing she had put off the night before. She did a quick sweep of the room and the only things left were her and Zuko's masks from the festival, still sitting on her dresser where she left them. A smile tugged at her lips before she pushed it away and she grabbed the masks and shoved them into her already full pack. Then she went down to the kitchen to put away the last of their food items before heading out to the courtyard where everyone was getting Appa ready for his flight.

"Okay, that's everything," Sokka said as he secured everything in Appa's saddle.

"No, it's not," Toph said from where she was sat on the edge of the fountain, "where's Aang?"

Everyone looked at each other in panic, how had they not noticed he wasn't there? They all ran through the house looking for him, _he must have fallen asleep while he was meditating or something,_ Katara rationalized as she checked every room.

They burst out onto the balcony where he usually went to meditate and saw his usual tray of fruit and candles only half used and Sokka noticed that his glider was still there too. This wasn't the first time Aang disappeared or panicked right before an important battle, but he always took his glider, and he always came back within a few hours – this didn't seem right. Worry began to churn in Katara's stomach, _where could he be?_

Zuko suggested they check the beach too and they found a trail of Aang sized footprints leading to the water's edge.

"So, he went for a midnight swim and never came back?" Suki asked.

"Maybe he was captured," Katara responded, unsure where else he could have possible gone.

Sokka pointed out there were no signs of a struggle, and dismissed Toph's suggestion that he ran away because he didn't take his staff. And he couldn't be in the Spirit World, because his body would still be nearby.

It was possible he waterbent an air bubble around himself and swam somewhere else and just hadn't come back – it was a stretch, but she didn't know where else to go from here. "He's gotta be on Ember Island, let's split up and look for him," Katara decided.

Toph insisted on going with Zuko, Katara and Suki decided to search the town, and Sokka hopped on Appa to search the island from the air.

She and Suki ran to town as fast as they could and could hear a crowd of people chanting Aang's name when they arrived. They quickly pushed their way through but were disappointed to find that it was just the actress woman from the Ember Island Players troupe giving a street performance. They both growled their annoyance and quickly left to search the rest of the town to no avail.

They trudged back solemnly, and found Toph and Zuko looking equally as defeated on the front stairs of the house. Sokka wasn't back yet with Appa, but even if he had found Aang, they all had spent so long searching the island for him that it was too late for their original plan to confront the Fire Lord today. The next best option was to intercept the air ships on their way to the Earth Kingdom, but without finding Aang first that was off the table too. Katara hung her head and tried to ignore the tightening of her lungs – this wasn't like him, he wouldn't just _leave_ like this. Something had to be really, really wrong, and she had no idea how to fix it.

Sokka touched down with Appa and broke the piercing silence, "judging by the looks on your faces, I'm guessing you guys didn't find Aang either."

They all shook their heads, utterly defeated. Aang was just, gone.

-/\/\/\/\/\/\\-

* * *

 **A/N: Thanks so much for reading! It's time to say goodbye to the Ember Island house, there's only one more very small scene here before we leave for good. I've had a lot of fun writing this whole section of the story, but I'm glad to be moving on too, it'll be good to get all of the finale of the show done so we can move on to some more new stuff! I know the ending here isn't much of a cliffhanger since we all know where Aang actually is (and I don't really plan on changing anything that happens in the show, it'll all set up what I have planned for the post-war section of the fic) but this seemed like a good spot to end this chapter.**

 **Thank you so much to each of you who have left reviews and comments, you guys are all so kind and I'm so so glad that you're enjoying reading as much as I'm enjoying writing it!**

 **This one comes in at 11,454 words, so a total of 73,576 words! Wow, thank you so much if you've read up until this point so far, I know that's a lot lol, it really means a lot to me.**

 **Reminder that I'm going on vacation next week for two weeks, I'm going to try to write as much as I can before then, but I'm working a lot this week before I leave, so I sorta doubt I'll have anything finished before I go. So I apologize in advance, it'll probably be at least three maybe four weeks before the next chapter - but I'll do my best to get it up as fast as I can.**

 **Again, thank you for reading! I'll see you all soon!**


	8. A Change in Plans

**In a New Light**

 **Chapter 8 – A Change in Plans**

-/\/\/\/\/\/\\-

"It's like he just… disappeared," Zuko said, hanging his head.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Toph said, sitting up, "has anyone noticed that Momo's missing too?"

Sokka looked around panicked, "oh no! I knew it was only a matter of time!" he exclaimed dramatically to the sky. He practically dove off the stairs to crouch in front of Appa and open the bison's mouth. "Appa ate Momo! I'm comin' for you buddy!" he said, his entire torso now bent between Appa's teeth.

"Sokka. Appa didn't eat Momo. He's probably with Aang," Katara said with monotone annoyance. She really didn't have time to be dealing with Sokka's irrationality on top of everything else.

He turned back toward her, his eyebrows raised in suspicion, "that's just what Appa wants you to think!" he said as he clambered entirely inside.

"Get out of the bison's mouth Sokka! We have a real problem here!" Zuko said, his tone matching Katara's exasperated annoyance, "Aang is nowhere to be found and the comet is only two days away."

"What should we do Zuko?" Katara asked, turning away from the disturbing image of her brother sliding out of Appa's mouth covered in bison saliva.

"I don't know," Zuko replied, as he got to his feet and looked between the faces of his allies who were all staring at him expectantly. "Why are you all looking at me?"

"Well, you are kind of the expert on tracking Aang," Katara responded, vaguely thinking how ironic it was that Zuko's time chasing them could actually be used to their advantage now.

"Yeah, if anyone's got experience hunting the Avatar, it's you," Toph agreed.

Zuko's brow hardened for a moment while he thought it over. "Well, there is one thing I can think to do, but it's a risk, it would mean travelling to the Earth Kingdom. We'd have to leave right now."

"Right now!? But I'm all covered in bison goo!" Sokka protested.

"Maybe you should have thought about that before you _climbed inside a giant bison's mouth_!" Zuko yelled back.

"Aw, but if I climb up Appa right now I'll get all covered in his fur too," Sokka whined.

"Well then go jump in the ocean for all I care! We're leaving in five minutes!" Zuko growled before he turned abruptly to go back into the house.

Katara, Suki and Toph suppressed their snickers as Sokka stomped off toward the beach, mumbling something about jerkbenders. The three girls took inventory of everything they had packed up on Appa's saddle and determined they were ready to go. Zuko came back outside with his pack slung over his shoulder and Katara waterbent the ocean water out of Sokka's clothes when he came back a few minutes later.

Zuko locked eyes with everyone before he climbed up to take the steering position on Appa's head and they silently rose off the ground and headed toward the sea.

Katara had woken up that morning expecting to feel sad about leaving their pseudo home, she had grown quite fond of her time in the Fire Lord's vacation house. But with Aang's disappearance she was filled with even more dread and uncertainty as she watched Ember Island become a tiny dot on the horizon, before it faded away completely.

\- \/\ -

The group was shrouded in an uncomfortable silence as they flew for hours on end. Katara was driving herself insane running over all the possible places Aang could be, and she was sure her friends weren't faring much better. Sokka seemed especially panicked as he kept shifting around in Appa's saddle and grunting every few minutes. Katara let her head fall back to rest on the rim of the saddle and tried to focus on the patterns in the clouds overhead rather than let her brother's fidgeting get to her.

They were passing by one of the last islands of the Fire Nation archipelago when the sun began to set, and when Sokka's patience apparently gave out.

"Zuko, I don't wanna tell you how to do your job," he said, sitting up to lean on the front of the saddle, "but _why_ are we heading toward the Earth Kingdom – there's no way Aang's there."

"Just trust me," Zuko said still facing forward.

"Agh! I've been trusting you for the last eight hours!" Sokka gasped as he flopped backwards into the saddle, "I don't do well without a plan…"

Zuko made no sign of response toward Sokka, and Suki patted his arm consolingly. She locked eyes with Katara and raised her brow questioningly. Katara shrugged and rolled her eyes in response. Her brother and Zuko had been equally dramatic all day and she wasn't in the mood to get in the middle of it. They had all decided to trust Zuko's plan, and there wasn't really much of a choice left for them at this point, so she had decided to just let it be – even if Zuko was being annoyingly vague about whatever his idea was.

She resumed her position staring at the sky above her and watched as the clouds and sky slowly turned from orange to dark blue to black. It wasn't until Zuko declared they were ready to land about an hour later that she realized she had been clenching her fists under her arms with all her strength. She shook her wrists to get some feeling back in her fingers as Zuko circled Appa above a small clearing that was in front of a very raucous sounding bar.

With a heavy sigh, she was the last one to slide off Appa so she could give him a bundle of hay. "Aang's missing, we've been flying all day, the comet is only a day away now, and he takes us _to a bar_ ," she mumbles under her breath, giving Appa a friendly pat on the cheek.

Appa let out a large groan in response and promptly began chewing on his dinner.

"Better eat quick buddy, who knows when we'll have to be up and flying again," she said, giving him one last scratch under his chin before she followed after the rest of the group.

She didn't want to admit to giving up hope, but dread had been sludging through her veins all day, and she almost didn't even care what Zuko's plan to find Aang was. They had risked everything to leave the Fire Nation behind and come here instead – it was either going to work or it wasn't, and either way, she wasn't in control of anything that could happen next. She was just along for the ride, and she hated it.

Zuko pushed open the front door and the scene was even more rambunctious than Katara had imagined. There were people yelling, chanting, punching, running, and stumbling all over the place. It was a mess.

"And the reason you've brought us to a seedy Earth Kingdom tavern is what now?" she finally asked.

Zuko lifted his arm to eye level and pointed toward a familiar, fierce looking woman with tattoos on both shoulders who sitting in the back of the tavern, "June."

Her body language was casual as she sipped her cup of tea, but her eyes darted around with intensity before she used just her legs to take down a man who had rushed toward her.

"Oh yeah, that weird bounty hunter with the giant mole!" Sokka said, and Katara finally clicked into place where she had seen her before. Zuko had given her mother's necklace to June so that she could track them down. Somehow, she had almost forgotten about all that, it seemed so long ago now.

"Giant mole? Her skin is flawless," Suki pointed out.

"No, she has this giant mole creature she rides around on," Sokka explained.

"The shirshu," Zuko confirmed, "it's the only animal that can track Aang's scent anywhere in the world – it's the one shot we have of finding him," he turned toward Katara slightly.

Images of the shirshu destroying an abbey and paralyzing her and her friends came bubbling up in Katara's mind as she remembered her last encounter with the creature. _Ohh, right. The shirshu tracked us all over the Earth Kingdom, there's no reason that can't work to find Aang now,_ Katara realized and she felt the faintest spark of hope ignite in her again. She wondered why Zuko didn't just tell them the plan when they left. He could have saved them all a lot of worrying during the trip over.

In front of them, June was still taking down various patrons of the bar who seemed to all be making to poor decision of attacking her. She flung one of them clear across the room, and never even spilled her tea. Even if her shirshu tracking didn't work out, they could definitely use her in the inevitable battle that was just a day or so away now.

"I don't know who this June lady is," Toph said, crossing her arms with a smirk, "but I like her!"

Katara smiled to herself slightly, leave it to Toph to be still unfazed when things seemed so bleak.

"Hey! Didn't she also help you attack us!" Sokka said to Zuko with realization.

"Yep. Back in the good ol' days," Zuko replied sarcastically as he approached the table June had sat back down at.

Sokka grumbled about whether or not they should trust her, but followed the group to her table nonetheless.

"Oh, great, it's Prince Pouty," June huffed, barely glancing at the group, as she continued to sip her tea, "where's your creepy grandpa?"

"He's my Uncle, and he's not here," Zuko said annoyed.

June paused for a moment to look at Katara, and then back at Zuko, "I see you worked things out with your girlfriend."

Katara's body went rigid and her face immediately flamed as images of her and Zuko holding hands on his bed, his hands firm on her hips as they danced at the festival, and his face centimeters away from hers the night of the play, all flashed quickly before her eyes. She firmly shoved the images out of her head.

"He's not my boyfriend!" she blurted out as soon as her brain caught back up to the moment. She heard Sokka and Toph snickering off to her left and she realized that Zuko had spoken at the exact same time she had. She willed her cheeks to cool down as she shifted away from Zuko ever so slightly.

"Okay, okay, sheesh. I was only teasing," June said, mildly amused. "So, what do you want?"

 _That was ridiculous…why did I react that way? I have_ got _to get myself under control,_ Katara mentally slapped herself and made herself refocus on the situation at hand.

"We need your help finding the Avatar," Zuko said, having already regained his composure.

June scoffed, "doesn't sound too fun."

Zuko growled and leaned toward his with his fists clenched, "does the end of the world sound like more fun!?"

She looked momentarily shocked before she took another quick sip of her drink, "well, I see you're as loud and passionate as ever, but what's in it for me?"

"What's in it for you!? He just told you the world was going to end if you don't help us and you want a reward!?" Sokka asked incredulously.

"Either the world ends and I get nothing out of it, or I help you save it for no reward, and I still get nothing out of it," she said with a simple shrug, "either way seems like a bad deal for me."

Katara narrowed her eyes in contemplation. She couldn't decide if June actually didn't care about the fate of the world, or if she just cared too much about her reputation to let her cool exterior falter. For the sake of their survival Katara hoped it was the latter and decided to play into June's ruse.

"Well Prince Pouty over here is going to become Fire Lord if we win the war," Katara said, leaning her palms onto the wooden table, "he could see to it that you get paid what you deserve."

Zuko rolled his eyes imperceptibly at Katara's use of June's nickname for him, and grumbled, "we don't know that for sure. My Uncle will probably be a better fit for the job…"

June seemed to think it over for a moment, "your creepy grandpa did pay me well the last time… Okay fine, you've got yourself a deal."

Katara silently exhaled as she and the rest of the group followed June out of the bar to where her shirshu seemed to be engaged in a snarling battle with Appa. After a moment Appa seemed to approve and gave the shirshu a big lick, which calmed the other creature significantly.

"Nyla!" June called to her shirshu as she threw her a piece of steak and calmed her down a bit, before turning back to the group and asking for something that had Aang's scent.

Katara quickly climbed up into Appa's saddle to grab Aang's glider and handed it over. June held it out to Nyla who sniffed it curiously before she stuck her snout into the air and began to trace a trail to Aang. She sniffed the ground around her, and then moved to make a circle around everyone, her head turning in every direction as she went, and Katara couldn't help but feel like something was wrong. When she had been the subject of Nyla's sniffing quest all those months ago the shirshu had always seemed to take a direct path to her, and now she was just going in circles. After another moment Nyla came back to where she had started and hunkered down in defeat, covering her nose with her paws.

"Well, what does that mean?" Zuko asked, crossing his arms.

June pet Nyla's head consolingly, "means your friend's gone."

"We know he's gone, that's why we're trying to find him," Toph said with a hint of sarcasm.

"No, I mean he's _gone_ gone. He doesn't exist," June looked back at them hauntingly.

Katara felt as if her heart had dropped out of her stomach and she started to feel lightheaded.

"What do you mean Aang doesn't exist? Do you mean he's, you know, dead?" Sokka asked what Katara couldn't even bring herself to think.

"Nope. We could find him if he was dead," June replied, a little too nonchalantly in Katara's opinion, "hm, it's a real head scratcher."

Before June could leave Zuko had the idea of looking for his Uncle instead. Katara was only vaguely aware of Zuko pulling one of his Uncle's smelly sandals from his pack and giving it to Nyla as a smell sample – she was too confused trying to figure out what could have possibly happened to Aang. She felt foggy from all the details, he had just disappeared into the ocean, and now his body was just gone entirely. She felt some comfort in knowing that he wasn't dead, but there was still no hope of finding him in time for the comet. And now their only hope to win the war was a retired Fire Nation General. Zuko's Uncle seemed kind every time Katara had seen him, and she knew that he had helped Aang break her out of the catacombs in Ba Sing Se, but he wasn't the Avatar… could he really take down Ozai?

June had mounted Nyla and ran off further inland and the group hopped into Appa's saddle quickly to chase after her. Katara sat with her shoulders leaning against the back of the saddle as she stared ahead numbly. The wind whipped through her hair and the sharp breeze roused her from her thoughts as she realized Sokka had been staring at her with concern.

She met his eyes and he reached his arm out to give her shoulder a firm squeeze. Suki did the same and gave her hand a quick pat, and Katara gave them each a small smile in return.

Toph turned back from where she was clinging on to the front of Appa's saddle to give Katara a sympathetic smile too before her grin turned more wicked. "Alright, enough moping, we're doing everything we can. I'm more interested in what June was saying about you two love birds," she said with a snicker, motioning with her head between Katara and the general direction where Zuko sat at the front steering Appa.

Katara and Zuko groaned in unison before Sokka chimed in to agree with Toph, "yeah, you know I was wondering the same thing… exactly how long have you had a thing for my sister 'Prince Pouty?'"

"Sokka I thought we've talked about this – " Zuko started to say before Sokka cut him off.

"Oh, I'm pretty sure I'd remember if you two actually admitted to be lovey-dovey love birds," he said smirking.

"Agh! I mean, that I distinctly remember you promising to lay off with this – and can we _please_ stop with the 'Prince Pouty' thing? I am _not_ that pouty," he gave a small definitive huff and crossed his arms.

Sokka raised his eyebrows and looked between Suki and Katara before he started laughing. "Okay, come on man, you had to know how that just sounded – look at you! You're the spitting image of a petulant child right now!" Sokka gestured to Zuko's arms and his slightly upturned chin.

Suki joined in Sokka's outright laughter and Katara found herself snickering along too, despite herself. Zuko shrunk down into his shoulders with one last huff, but didn't argue.

"Alright, alright, as _hilarious_ as all of this visual humor is, can someone please answer my question?" Toph said, waving her hand in front of where she assumed Sokka's face was, "why did the badass shirshu lady think something was up between Madame Fussy Britches and the hot head?"

Everyone except Zuko, who was still facing forward to follow June's trail as they flew, turned toward Katara expecting an answer. She was grateful that the darkened sky was hiding the pink that had surely crept up on her cheeks again. "I, uh, was actually wondering the same thing…" she said, shifting slightly in her seat.

Zuko sighed heavily and let his shoulders fully relax, "when I met June the first time it was after I had stolen your necklace, remember," he turned back briefly to shoot Katara an apologetic look, "I gave it to her to have Nyla use it to track down Aang, but she assumed I was lying and was just trying to find my scorned girlfriend."

"That's it!?" Toph whined in disappointment, "that's so _lame_. I was hoping for a nice juicy story about you chasing Aang that whole time 'cause you secretly had a massive thing for Katara – man that could've kept us entertained for _hours_ on these long Appa rides!" She threw her arms up in the air with exasperation before quickly throwing them back through the saddle loop to stabilize herself again.

Zuko made a choked, half cough-half grunting noise before awkwardly mumbling out, "um…no."

Katara's cheeks burned even hotter as an awkward silence fell over them; no one else seemed to have anything else to add. Her stomach was squirming and she did her best not to fidget with her fingers – she was sure that any sign of her discomfort with the conversation would set Sokka off on another teasing tirade. More than anything she just wanted to stop thinking about this. She didn't have feelings for Zuko, she _couldn't_ have feelings for Zuko, so there was no reason for his simple 'um…no' to sting this much. Even though it wasn't an indication of his current feelings she couldn't help but wonder what those feelings were. Her mind kept wandering back to all those little moments they shared when they were still at his father's vacation house – they had felt so normal and innocent to her at the time. _Ugh, it was all innocent and normal. He's your_ friend _it's a_ good _thing_ _that he doesn't have a massive crush on you – it's easier this way!_ She tried to convince herself.

Her thoughts began to all spiral together, her worry about Aang, the comet, the war, and her non-feelings for Zuko all swirled as she felt herself start to drift off to sleep. A moment, or a few minutes later she awoke with a start as her head had lolled onto her shoulder and she resigned herself to try to sleep for real. She pulled a blanket from one of her packs and curled up against the back of the saddle to get as comfortable as possible.

\- \/\ -

They flew straight through the night, everyone but Toph took turns switching positions every few hours to make sure whoever was flying Appa was clear-headed enough to keep an eye on June and Nyla below them. The sun rose while Katara was steering and time had begun to lose its meaning. How many days now until the comet? One? One and a half? Two? She couldn't be sure. The sun was warm as it rose over her, but the morning air was still cool as it pierced her skin. Nature was telling her it was breakfast time, but her body felt like it was already midafternoon again and was telling that she needed a nap.

Sometime later, someone – Suki, maybe? – nudged her to take over her position and Katara clambered over to her position at the back of the saddle again. She spent the day in a haze, watching as the land around them changed from rocky cliff faces, to lush forests, and even the edges of the desert. They were far from the Fire Nation now and she could feel the change in the air, the dryness chapped her lips, and she was sure she couldn't bend water from this sky no matter how hard she tried.

They only stopped a few times for bathroom breaks and to feed Appa as quickly as they could. He had never flown this far with so few stops, and they didn't have any idea how much further they would have to go. Katara felt like they were all in an ocean of sky, just floating along with the tides of the wind, waiting for the right strip of land to stop at. Sokka and Toph tried to make jokes and play travel games, with Suki only half playing along – which Katara guessed was just for Sokka's benefit. Zuko and Katara were content as they could be to just sit and wait for whatever was going to happen next.

The sun had set when Zuko spotted the outer wall of Ba Sing Se on the horizon. Had they really traveled across the entire Earth Kingdom in a day? Everyone had perked up somewhat as they took in their new, but familiar surroundings. June signaled up at them to land near a broken section of the wall.

"Your Uncle is somewhere beyond the wall," she said as Nyla scratched at the rubble impatiently, "Nyla's getting twitchy so he can't be too far. Good luck," she said with a final nod, before she turned around and headed back the way she came.

Zuko hung his head momentarily before he turned to everyone else, "it's been a long day. Let's set up camp and start our search again at dawn."

Katara had to admit that despite everything, Zuko was making a good leader for them the past day or so. He had kept a level head and carried on flying Appa, and coming up with new plans on the spot without any hints of discouragement.

"We should all try to eat something and then get some rest," Zuko said as he slid off Appa.

"Here, I've got the rest of the Rhino Jerky. We should probably try and ration it somewhat, we don't know how much time we'll need tomorrow to continue searching, and we don't want to run out of food," Katara said, as she threw a piece to each of her friends, before she followed suit and hopped off Appa as well.

They all sat in a circle and ate in silence before Toph declared that she was going to bed and promptly made an earth tent. Sokka and Suki agreed, and Sokka loudly called dibs on sleeping on Appa's tail. Sleeping on Appa was great for body heat warmth, and his tail was arguably the most comfortable spot, but Katara was too exhausted to argue, and instead slumped down on one of his paws.

She rested her elbows on her knees and let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding. Zuko sat down on the paw next to hers as she rubbed the heel of her palms into her eyes.

"How are you doing?" he asked her somewhat shyly.

"I don't know," her voice was hoarse, and she realized she had barely spoken all day, "that sense of impending doom is gone, but now I sort of don't feel anything at all." She shrugged and tried to give a faint smile and hoped it passed for nonchalance.

To her surprise he returned her smile with a nod, "I know what you mean. Just flying all day for the past two days – even though I know it's the best shot we have, it felt so tedious, like we could have been doing more."

She held his gaze and felt the familiar warmth of his stare spark a small light in her. She had missed this, she missed having someone to talk to. Even though she had been surrounded by her closest friends – _minus one important one,_ she thought with a pang – she had felt so alone the past few days.

With a nod of her own she gave in to her need to be comforted and let her upper body fall forward so that her forehead rested on the top of Zuko's shoulder in front of her. The sudden movement startled him, and she realized how strange that must have looked, he probably thought she had fainted onto him or something.

Feeling very silly, she was about to lift herself back to her original sitting position when she felt his hands rest lightly on the small of her back, and his head tilt to rest on hers. He let out a puff of air that Katara felt ripple over the back of her neck and sent a warm shiver through her body. Goosebumps began to coat her left side when he inhaled and she realized she was more relaxed than she had felt since she had found out Aang was missing.

Reluctantly – she hated to admit it – she lifted her head again, "thank you. We should get some sleep."

He gave her one more nod and a light squeeze with the hand that was still resting on her hip before he turned to lay down.

She lay down on the paw next to his and turned away from him, "goodnight Zuko," she said, her voice so low she didn't expect him to hear her.

"Goodnight Katara," he whispered just as softly.

\- \/\ -

She heard Toph startle awake before she felt the heat of the flames as they made a wide circle around the five of them and Appa. Katara jolted upright and ran to huddle up with everyone else next to the sky bison. She was immediately regretting leaving her water skin up in Appa's saddle – she would have to rely on hand to hand combat if their ambushers decided to attack.

But she didn't have to worry long, as she looked up toward the broken section of the wall where the source of the surprise firebending was, and relief washed over her as she saw four of their old masters staring down at them.

"Well, look who's here!" King Bumi said followed by his traditional snorting laugh.

"What's going on?" Toph asked, her body still posed in a defensive position, "we're surrounded by old people!"

"Not just any old people," Katara said, stepping forward, "these are great masters and friends of ours!" She bowed to her former waterbending teacher with a smile, "Pakku."

"It is respectful to bow to an old master, but how about a hug, for your new grandfather?" Pakku said as he returned a bow to her.

Katara threw her arms up in excitement and Sokka let out a squeal behind her as she ran forward to give Pakku a big hug. "That's so exciting! You and Gran-Gran must be so happy to have found each other again!"

Pakku's unusual jovial mood simmered back down to his more usual stern and stoic stance when Sokka started making GrandPakku puns, and Katara tried to stifle her laughter. Katara made sure to introduce Jeong Jeong, Piandao and King Bumi to the rest of the group who hadn't met them yet.

"So, wait – how do you all know each other?" Suki asked the question that Katara had been wondering since the group of masters showed up.

"All old people know each other – don't you know that?" Bumi snickered evasively.

"We're all part of the same ancient secret society – a group that transcends the divisions of the four nations," Piandao said, giving a more succinct answer.

Next to Katara, Zuko nodded with a smile, "the Order of the White Lotus."

Katara's ears perked up at this, _Zuko knew about some secret ancient flower society?_

"The White Lotus has always been about philosophy, and beauty, and truth," Jeong Jeong began to explain, "but, about a month ago a call went out that we were needed for something important."

"It came from a Grand Lotus," Pakku continued, turning his gaze toward Zuko as he spoke, "your uncle – Iroh of the Fire Nation."

A smile of pure relief formed of Zuko's face, and Katara felt his joy spread to her features as well.

"Well that's who we're looking for!" Toph said cheerily.

Piandao gladly offered to take them to Iroh, before Bumi interrupted with the realization that Momo wasn't with them. Sokka had to point out that Aang was actually missing too, but neither of these pieces of information seemed to faze Bumi much as he launched himself through the crevice of the wall with his earthbending, laughing maniacally as he went.

"That guy is crazy!" Toph said as she cleared a path through the rubble so that they could follow him.

"He's one of Aang's oldest friends, and one of the greatest earthbenders there is," Katara said with a shrug. She didn't exactly want to go into all the details about just how crazy Bumi could get.

"Oh, is he? Well, we'll see about that," Toph punched her hand into her palm before she launched herself after him with an earth catapult similar to Bumi's.

"What, is she going to challenge the King of Omashu to an Earth Rumble _right now_?" Suki asked.

"I wouldn't put it past her," Katara chuckled, "we should probably wait a little while before we rush to try and catch up with them – Toph gets pretty intense when her title of 'Greatest Earthbender of All Time,' gets challenged."

Suki laughed in agreement and the pair ran up a little closer to where Sokka and Zuko were chatting with Master Piandao.

"I must say, it's good to see you after so many years Zuko. You've grown up quite a bit since then," the sword master said, with a pat on his shoulder, "you're still practicing with those dao swords I hope?"

"Well… I did lose the ones you gave me when my ship got blown up. But, I try to practice with the new pair I have as often as I can," Zuko replied sheepishly.

Piandao gave a grunt of approval, "and I take it you've had the opportunity to kick Sokka's butt a few times too?" he raised his eyebrow facetiously.

"Yes, master," Zuko said, looking smugly over at Sokka.

"Hey! It was a tie! And you didn't fight fair!" Sokka argued.

Zuko scoffed, "please, I didn't even have to resort to cheating with you narrating your every move before you make it!"

Sokka floundered incredulously, "it is not my fault that I have style when I fight, and you don't!"

"I hardly call yelling 'head shot' in the middle of a swordfight a stylistic technique," Zuko said, much to Piandao's pleasure.

The teasing between the boys went on for some time, with Katara and Suki happily laughing along as they made their way down the trail toward where they could hear the cacophony of Toph and Bumi throwing rocks at each other.

They reached the crest of the hill right just before the first Inner Wall to see Toph and Bumi launching boulders that were twice the size of Appa with ease. Through the dust Katara could just barely make out a small encampment of tents at the far end of the valley, which she assumed was their destination. The Earth Rumble was dangerously close to uprooting the entire makeshift settlement.

"Woohoo! Go Toph!" Sokka cheered, "go for the eyes! Oo, no, go for his feet! Knock him down!"

"Sokka! Don't encourage them! They could get hurt and we're going to need them in fighting shape!" Katara scolded him.

"Go Bumi! Show her what Kings are made of!" Sokka continued as if he hadn't heard Katara at all.

"Whose side are you on exactly?" Suki asked with a hint of sarcasm.

"I'm impartial," Sokka stated matter-of-factly, "I just want to see some good rumbling."

Toph stomped her foot again and sent a massive wave of rocks at Bumi, which he vaulted himself over easily. But the range of Toph's earth wave was wide, and shook the ground beneath all the tents in the distance. Katara could see the small flickers of light as people began sticking their heads out in fear as to what could have shaken the earth so violently.

"Hey! Enough you two! Break it up!" Zuko said as he raced down the hill toward the fight.

"Boo Zuko! Don't ruin the fun," Sokka called down, following after him.

"It's not funny anymore Sokka, this could get dangerous!" Katara said as she ran after the both of them.

Pakku and Jeong Jeong, who had been following the group behind Appa stood to join Piandao and Suki where they still stood at the top of the hill.

"Does this type of thing happen a lot with your group?" Piandao asked with a fond chuckle.

"Yep, pretty typical," Suki replied with a smile, before she calmly led them down the hill as well.

"Hee hee hee, you're never going to win girly! Don't you know I can bend with just my face!" Bumi snickered as he dodged another one of Toph's moves.

"Oh yeah King Crusty!? Well, I can bend metal!" Toph shouted back as she bent her meteorite bracelet off her upper arm and formed it into a small skewer which she sent in a straight shot at Bumi's forehead. "Never met an earthbender who could do that, did ya?"

Bumi paused immediately and looked curiously at the thin strip of meteorite hovering a centimeter from his eyes. A huge smile formed across his face and he dropped his bending stance just as Zuko skidded to a halt between the two earthbenders with his hands outstretched, expecting to have to stop the fight.

"I am very impressed young Master Toph. You win this Earth Rumble," Bumi said as he gave her a deep bow, before snorting with laughter again.

Sokka and Katara reached them just as the dust cleared, with Sokka whining his disappointment with missing most of the fight.

"Hell yeah, I win!" Toph said as she crossed her arms proudly.

Katara huffed at Toph's attitude, but otherwise didn't berate her for fear of being forced to endure an entire night of gloating from the young earthbender.

Once everyone settled down a bit they continued down the hill toward the circle of tents in the distance. Bumi explained what happened in Omashu during the eclipse, and how he escaped and retook the city for the Earth Kingdom. When he asked if they had done anything interesting during the eclipse both Sokka and Zuko looked at each other before silently agreeing to not say anything. Katara figured it was probably better if they didn't get into all the details of that day and everything that happened since. There were more important things to discuss in the limited time they had before the comet came.

When they reached the small earthbender-made retaining wall surrounding the encampment Bumi lowered it for them with ease.

"Well, here we are," he gestured around them, "welcome to Old People Camp."

This area of the valley had a lot of jagged rocks and small cliff faces that were perfect for hiding the camp from most vantage points. The whole area was bigger than Katara had initially anticipated – there was a long center walkway with about eight tents on each side, which ended in a small semi-circle of bigger tents surrounding a fire pit where at least fifteen people were gathered – it was clear Iroh had been planning this meetup for some time now.

"Where… where is he?" Zuko asked quietly as they walked down the center row of tents.

"Your Uncle is in there, Prince Zuko," Piandao said, pointing to the largest tent, in the center of the semi-circle past the fire pit.

Katara heard Zuko audibly gulp before he walked down the end of the aisle toward his Uncle's tent. He paused just before going in, and he let his hesitation overtake him as he lowered himself to sit on the ground. She knew how much he missed his uncle, how much he thought of him every day, but she didn't realize the full extent of how ashamed he must feel about what he did to him in Ba Sing Se. It wasn't like Zuko to hesitate – he must really be hurting.

She walked up to him, with her hand clutching her arm, uncertain exactly how to approach him without setting off some kind of anger. "Are you okay?"

"No, I'm not okay," he answered a little too quickly, "my uncle hates me I know it. He loved me and supported me in every way he could, and I still turned against him… How can I even face him?"

Katara knelt on the ground next to him, and looked at him softly, "Zuko, you're sorry for what you did right?" She asked, even though she already knew the answer.

"More sorry that I've been about anything in my entire life," he said, still looking at the ground.

"Then he'll forgive you," he looked up to meet her eyes for a moment and she returned his gaze with what she hoped was the same intensity and comfort that he had given her so many times before, "he will."

Zuko smiled slightly and with a small nod and a sigh, he stood again and paused in front of his uncle's tent again, before pushing it open and going inside.

When the tent flaps opened, Katara could hear the soft sound of Iroh snoring, and she couldn't help but smile to herself as she imagined Zuko sitting patiently, waiting for his uncle to wake up so that he could apologize to him. She stared wistfully at the tent entrance a moment longer before she shook herself out of it and made her way over to where Pakku and Piandao were showing the rest of the group where their tent would be.

The group fell silent as Katara approached, and they looked at her with apprehension.

"So, um, did Zuko talk to his uncle?" Sokka asked.

"Not yet, I don't think. It sounded like General Iroh was asleep when he went inside, but Zuko is still in there, so I assume he plans to wait until he wakes up," Katara said.

"That is probably wise. General Iroh does enjoy his rest dearly," Pakku said, smiling down at Katara. "I was just telling the rest of your friends that this is the tent you'll all be staying in tonight. We are over crowded here as it is, so I hope you all don't mind sharing."

"Nope! We don't mind sharing at all!" Sokka said with a wink, as he threw his arm around Suki's shoulder.

Toph made a noise of disgust, "blegh, maybe I mind! You guys are like animals!"

Suki turned bright red and Katara's mouth gaped open at Toph's bluntness in the presence of her and Sokka's grandfather.

"Uhh, Master Pakku, I was hoping to ask you something – why don't we talk over here!" Katara blurted out quickly, ushering him away from the tent as quickly as she could, in the hopes he hadn't heard anything.

Katara pretended she couldn't still hear Toph's voice as it carried through the camp site, "what!? Sokka implied it, I just confirmed it! Man, you watertribe people are so stuffy!"

Pakku's eyebrows shot up and he made to move back toward Toph to question her, but Katara stopped him with a stiff hold on his shoulder.

"Uh, Master!" She shouted a little louder than she liked to get his attention, "I was wondering if there was a stream or something nearby where I might be able to practice some waterbending before I go to sleep tonight."

He looked startled by her abruptness, but then his expression changed to one more of parental concern. "Young Katara, I know you are a master now, but I hope you will still heed your old master's advice. Tonight, is the eve of our great battle – there is no reason for you to waste your strength prematurely – especially at this late hour."

Katara let out a sigh, she was hoping to not have to explain the real reason she was asking her question. "Well, that's sort of why I was asking… I was hoping to be able to meditate tonight to help clear my head for tomorrow, and it helps being near the water."

"You've learned to use your waterbending in meditation?" he looked at her curiously, "no doubt something you learned from the young Fire Nation Prince, I imagine?"

"Yes…" Katara didn't want to meet his eyes, she knew how he felt about firebenders and was afraid he would consider mixing waterbending and firebending techniques to be an abomination.

"I am very impressed, child," Pakku said, as he lightly lifted her chin to look him in the eye.

Katara didn't love Pakku's tendency to still call her "child" but she was too surprised to make an argument about it right now, "you aren't upset? I thought you would consider adapting Fire Nation techniques to be disrespectful?"

At this Pakku laughed heartily. "No, my dear. I taught exclusively classic Northern Style to you and my other students because it is all I know, and it is all that our people had left – until you came along of course. It is of the utmost importance to keep our traditions alive and strong, but you have traveled the world in a way that no other waterbender has been able to do in one hundred years, and have likely discovered bending techniques that would have otherwise been lost. Actually, I imagine I have quite a lot to learn from you, young lady."

Katara's eyes began to shine as she felt tears begin to prickle up, "thank you, Master."

"There is a small pond at the base of a cliff just outside of the camp, out that way," he pointed down a small walkway that was next to the tent she would be staying in.

She smiled up at him and gave him the traditional Water Tribe bow. He returned her smile with a twinkle of something that looked like an idea in his eye. Before Katara could ask what he was thinking, he ushered her off and she headed in the direction he had pointed to.

She walked through some low brush, and came upon a small clearing with a fairly large pond, that was still within shouting distance of the camp. There was a large cliff face that had the slightest trickle of water flowing down it into the pool of water, that added a tranquil aura to the area.

Katara let out a sigh of relief as she kicked off her shoes and froze a small patch of the surface of the water and sat down on it cross legged.

Her mind was buzzing with too many thoughts – Pakku's kind words from a moment ago, Zuko's conversation with his uncle, Aang's whereabouts, and the most nagging of all: what comes next? What had Zuko said to do? _Clear my thoughts, and take deep breaths right?_ She exhaled again and focused only on the water beneath her. _Push. Pull. Inhale. Exhale. Push, and pull._ She did her best to think only of her breath, and kept her hands resting steadily on her knees.

The soft sounds of the water trickling in, the wind through the grass, and the occasional badger-frog croak soothed her mind. _Badger-frogs? Last time I heard those Aang was doing an infinite number of hot squats in the Western Air Temple. I didn't think the Earth Kingdom had badger-frogs. Aang would know for sure, he loves animal facts, I should ask next time – AH! Focus Katara!_ Her little ice floe had begun to wobble as her thoughts trailed and she lost her focus. Shaking out her hands she closed her eyes again and focused only on her breathing.

Sometime later – about an hour, she guessed based on the moon's position in the sky – she felt as relaxed and content as she could be. She hopped back to the small bank of the pond and melted her ice floe back to the temperature of the pond and made the short walk back to the campsite.

Outside of their designated tent she saw a small earth tent that Katara imagined Toph had created out of protest of sleeping in the same tent as Sokka and Suki. She chuckled to herself and peeked inside to see her brother and his girlfriend sleeping entirely innocently; Sokka was sprawled on his back, his arms thrown haphazardly above his head and his mouth open, snoring loudly. Suki was curled up next to him, her forehead only barely leaning into his chest, and a peaceful smile on her face.

Katara rummaged through her pack as quietly as she could for a blanket and curled up next to the sleeping couple. Meditating had helped. She didn't feel _good_ about the events to come, but there weren't any traces of the sands of dread in her stomach anymore, and she was grateful to fall asleep immediately.

\- \/\ -

"Wake up Lazy Bones!" Toph's piercing voice range through the tent, "sun's almost up!"

Sokka jerked up immediately, bumping Suki's head along the way, "ow. Thanks, Sokka," she grumbled.

"Sorry. Morning. Bad for coordination," he replied lazily.

Katara huffed and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Even though she had gone to sleep clear headed, she knew she hadn't slept long enough, and it was sure to be a long day. With a deep breath she sat up, brushed out her hair, and then followed her brother and Suki out of the tent.

She looked immediately toward Iroh's tent at the end of the row and saw both he and Zuko setting up a pot of soup over the fire pit. Zuko was complaining about his Uncle's need for perfection when it was only food, and Iroh was chastising him for not understanding the importance of a good meal on the day of battle. But they were both smiling. Katara couldn't help but smile too – it seemed like they were already back to their old ways.

"Hi," she greeted Zuko with a large smile.

He beamed back her, "hi."

She held his gaze for a moment before she realized she had failed to great Iroh as well. "It's good to see you again, General." She gave a nod and what she hoped was an acceptable Fire Nation bow.

Iroh chuckled and waved his hands in protest, "there is no need for such formalities here, young lady. But it is nice to see all of my nephew's new friends again." He gave a quick glance to Zuko, who looked away momentarily, clearly still uncomfortable being referred to as a friend of anyone associated with the Avatar. "Come, you all must be hungry," he motioned to the bowls in front of him.

They all offered their thanks and sat around the fire pit. They were all silent for a moment, but Toph spoke first. "So, you forgave Prince Pouty over here, huh? Good call, he'd be super mopey if you didn't. Probably go shoot a bunch of fire balls then cry in the corner by himself."

"Hey! I don't mope!" Zuko snapped back.

Everyone else laughed, while Toph just held a smug smile.

"I don't!" Zuko repeated, this time looking to his uncle for support.

Iroh gave Zuko a knowing smile, that caused Zuko to groan again, but otherwise left Toph's question alone. "Prince Pouty huh? I take it that means you met the fair June. She is a quite a lady is she not?"

"Oh, right, we're probably going to have to pay her something if we make it out of this alive," Zuko said, hoping to stop his uncle's train of thought regarding what type of lady he thought June was.

"Ah, so that's how you managed to track me down," Iroh nodded.

"Yeah, he was carrying around your stinky sandal for months!" Sokka added in disgust.

Iroh looked over at Zuko in surprise now, "were you? How very sweet of you nephew."

Zuko glared over at Sokka, "well it came in handy didn't it…" he said to himself more than to anyone else.

The conversation dwindled again, and Katara found herself getting anxious. No one was asking the big question. "General Iroh… Aang is missing, and we came to you because we weren't sure what else to do…" she trailed off, unsure exactly how to finish her thought. It didn't feel like her place to ask a man of his authority to just come back with them on such short notice, especially when he clearly had a plan for him and the other members of the White Lotus.

Across from her, Zuko nodded, and took over where she left off. "Uncle, you're the only person, other than the Avatar, who could possibly defeat the Father Lord."

"You mean the Fire Lord," Toph pointed out. Katara snorted and had to cover her mouth so that soup wouldn't go flying all over her lap.

"That's what I just said!" Zuko snapped back at Toph for a second time. "We need you to come with us," he said, turning back to Iroh.

"No, Zuko. It won't turn out well." Iroh explained that he believed the only way the war could end peacefully and with balance, would be for the Avatar to defeat the Fire Lord.

Katara squirmed in her seat. Peace and balance are what she wants, but she wasn't sure how that was going to be possible when they had no way of knowing if Aang was even going to come back.

"Then, would you come and take your rightful place on the throne?" Zuko looked apprehensive. Even though the two of them had talked that Zuko was likely going to be Fire Lord if they won the war, she knew he was still holding out some hope that his uncle would take the mantle instead.

"No. Someone new must take the throne – an idealist with a pure heart, and unquestionable honor… It has to be you Prince Zuko," he made eye contact with his nephew.

Zuko's eyes widened, "unquestionable honor? But I've made so many mistakes…"

"Yes, you have. You struggled, you suffered. But you have always followed your own path, you restored _your own_ honor – and only you can restore the honor of the Fire Nation."

Zuko closed his eyes and thought it over a moment, "I'll try, Uncle." His expression was resolute, but as he looked away, Katara could still see some doubt in his eyes.

"Well, what if Aang doesn't come back?" Toph asked.

"Sozin's Comet is arriving, and our destinies are upon us. Aang _will_ face the Fire Lord." There was no doubt in his voice as he went on to explain how he had had a vision of taking Ba Sing Se, and he only just now realized that the vision meant he would take it _back_ from the Fire Nation, rather than claim it _for_ the Fire Nation. He believed in his destiny so strongly, and was so sure that everyone would play their part in winning the war today.

 _It must be comforting to believe in destiny so wholeheartedly. I wish I could be that sure…_ Katara thought.

"Zuko, you must return to the Fire Nation, so that when the Fire Lord falls, you can assume the throne, and restore peace, and order," Iroh continued. "But, Azula will be there, waiting for you."

"I handle Azula," Zuko said with confidence.

"Not alone," Iroh responded, to Zuko's surprise, "you'll need help."

"You're right," he resolved, "Katara, how would you like to help me put Azula in her place?"

Watching Zuko take back his crown from his sister; seeing the face of the woman who tried to kill Aang, crumble in defeat? "It would be my pleasure," Katara responded with a hearty smirk.

He nodded back to her with determination, and Sokka piped up with his idea for what they should do to help Aang. While Katara and Zuko flew on Appa back to the Fire Nation, Sokka, Suki, and Toph would head for the air ship fleet, and try to take them down while they all hoped Aang would come back and face Ozai.

Once their plan was set, they all finished their breakfast quickly. Katara went over to quickly feed Appa and make sure he was ready for another long journey, while Zuko set off to get some supplies ready.

"Hopefully this'll be the last big trip for a while, buddy," she said as she gave the bison a comforting pat on the head.

Appa grunted, and nuzzled into her hand in response.

She climbed up into his saddle to make sure his reins were tight, and all the ties were tied down. The only things in the saddle were a few pillows, and Aang's glider. Katara picked it up and contemplated what to do with it. If Iroh was right, Sokka, Suki and Toph were most likely to see Aang first, but it would be difficult for them to hang on to the staff while riding their eel hound. Besides, it would likely get lost or in the way while they were fighting. With a sigh she resolved that it would be safest on Appa. _I just hope he doesn't need it to fight the Fire Lord._

A moment later Zuko came by with his pack of things. He threw it up to her, and she caught it easily as he climbed up to take the reins and sit on Appa's head.

"Are we ready?" he asked, turning back to face her.

"As ready as we can be," she responded firmly.

"So, if I'm going to be Fire Lord after the war is over," Zuko addressed his uncle, who had come up to send them off, "what are you going to do?"

"After I reconquer Ba Sing Se, I'm going to reopen my tea shop, and play Pai Sho, every day!"

Zuko nodded and rolled his eyes slightly. He looked over and nodded to Sokka on the eel hound, who nodded back in confirmation that they were ready to go.

"Goodbye, General Iroh," Katara said.

"Goodbye everyone. Today, destiny is our friend, I know it."

Zuko gave his Uncle one last firm look, before he motioned for Appa to take off, and they both watched the camp slowly fade from view.

"You think we can make it back to the Fire Nation in time?" Katara asked, once they had put a bit of distance behind them.

"I'm not sure… No one knows exactly what time the comet comes, and I don't even know if Azula has been coronated yet. But I was planning to cross over the Great Western Sea – from Ba Sing Se, it should be a little quicker to get there," Zuko responded simply.

Katara had noticed the were flying east rather than west, as they were only just over the middle area of Ba Sing Se now. "Wait, coronated? Are you saying that Ozai is making Azula Fire Lord? Why would he just give up his title?"

"My uncle got word this morning from one of the White Lotus members in the Fire Nation Royal Guard that, in anticipation of winning the war, my father has decided to abdicate his role as Fire Lord, and has since become the _Phoenix King_ ," Zuko emphasized his father's new title with a mixture of disgust and bafflement.

"… The Phoenix King… Wow, you Fire Nation royals really do have a flair for the dramatic, don't you?" Katara replied with a slight chuckle.

He turned back to her in surprise, "are you really joking about this right now!?"

"Oh, come on! You know it's ridiculous! Besides, isn't this a good thing?"

Zuko rolled his eyes, but otherwise just looked at her blankly, unsure how she thought his father declaring himself the supreme leader of the world as a good thing.

"Well, if Ozai technically isn't Fire Lord anymore, that just makes it easier for you to become Fire Lord, right? This way, even if something goes wrong with Aang taking him down, we still only have to defeat Azula for the Fire Nation to be turned over to you, right?"

He stared at her a moment, his mouth hanging open slightly, "I, uh, I guess you're right." His eyes got that far-off look in them again, before he turned back to face forward.

Katara scooted close to the front of the saddle and sat on her knees with her feet tucked underneath her, just behind him. "For what it's worth, I think your Uncle's right. You're the only one who can bring peace to your people. You're going to make a great Fire Lord."

Zuko didn't respond immediately, he just stared in front of him, his body slowly tensing. "He's not even going to help me. He's just going to go back to Ba Sing Se to make tea and play games," he said bitterly.

"Zuko…" Katara said softly, taken aback by his tone.

"He hasn't actually forgiven me, has he?" he spoke again after a moment, this time his voice full of sadness and shame.

Katara's heart tugged inside her chest, and she placed her right hand on his shoulder. She kept forgetting how he was used to his family treating him, of course he thought his uncle was just trying to use him for his own gain. It must be incredibly hard for Zuko to hear and believe words of encouragement from anyone in his family.

"Zuko, that isn't true," she said as firmly as she could, "your uncle loves you. He's leaving you to do this because he truly believes you can – he wouldn't leave the fate of his nation to you if he didn't think so." She felt his shoulder relax somewhat under her hand, and without thinking she raised herself up to wrap her arms fully around his shoulders, her head resting on his right shoulder. "He loves you," she repeated, "and I'm sure he'll come and help you if you just ask him to."

He let out a sigh and relaxed under her hands, turning slightly to face her, "you really think I'll be a good Fire Lord?"

When he looked at her, she became uncomfortably aware of how close his face was to hers. She was starting to think it might not have been the smartest idea to press herself up against his back like this. She looked over his face, his expression was almost hopeful, his lips parted slightly, and his eyes looking at her intently. Remembering that he asked her a question, she nodded imperceptibly, "it can only be you."

His lips twitched momentarily into a smile, and she felt hers instinctually do the same. Her body was buzzing and she suddenly felt warm, too warm. His eyes flicked down to her lips all too familiarly, but he didn't move to lean forward. Unsure if she was disappointed or relieved, she realized she was the one who initiated this contact, so she was going to have to be the one to untangle herself.

Biting her lip nervously, she pulled away from their mutual trance, with one last squeeze to his shoulder, and she resumed her spot sitting innocently in the saddle behind him.

"So, um, the Great Western Sea," Katara said, clearing her throat, hoping to come off as casual as possible, "how long do you think it will take us to fly over it?"

"Um, probably a full day. I don't think we'll make it there until at least nightfall," he replied, with a slight crack in his voice.

She nodded, doing her best to push past potential awkwardness, "let me know when you get tired and need me to steer."

He nodded in response, and Katara took to looking at the city below them as they passed. She had forgotten how Ba Sing Se really was, and yet it looked so small from up above.

They flew straight on all day, Katara pulling out the last of the rhino jerky around midday for them to eat. They chatted occasionally as the sun moved overhead, discussing how Zuko learned about the White Lotus, how Katara had come to learn bloodbending, and they even tried out a few of Sokka's travel games, but they eventually got tired of naming shapes in the clouds and fell into a comfortable silence instead.

Sometime in the afternoon Katara took over flying, and Zuko pulled out a blanket from his pack of things, and immediately fell asleep. Katara chuckled to herself, if only she could fall asleep so easily. She could slowly feel the air becoming more humid as she flew over the ocean, and she knew slowly but surely, they were getting closer to the Fire Nation. She entertained herself by bending some of the water out of the air and making it dance around her.

Once the sun set she felt herself begin to drift off to sleep. She had tried to get some rest earlier on the ride, knowing she'd have to steer Appa later on, but the sun was too bright, and now her head kept lolling off to the side as she went in and out of consciousness. Turning around she saw Zuko still curled up on his side under the blanket, sleeping soundly. He had flown more than half of the day and she didn't have the heart to wake him.

"Hey, buddy," she said, leaning down to talk to Appa, "do you think you'd be able to fly without me for a little while? Just keep heading straight, and roar really loudly if we come to a big volcano – is that okay?"

Appa bucked his head up slightly and gave a positive sounding grunt.

"Thanks buddy, I'll make sure you get lots of hay and anything else you want once this is all over," Katara gave his head a good scratch then climbed back over the saddle ridge.

She went to open the pack of supplies, but saw that Zuko must have only packed one blanket, and the night was slowly getting chillier. With a shiver she tied the string around the pack back up and curled into herself at the front of the saddle, on the opposite side of Zuko. Teeth chattering, she rolled over onto her back, then back on her side, her eyes dreadfully heavy, but her body too cold to get any rest.

With a frustrated sigh she sat up and looked over with envy at Zuko still sleeping peacefully. He was curled up on his right side, with a large portion of the blanket lying unused in front of him. She stared at him while she shivered for another minute before she made up her mind. _I'll just use the blanket at the same time as him – it's not like we're sharing a bed or anything, I'll just be using it_ next to _him – I won't even touch him…_

Crawling over to the back of the saddle, she lifted the blanket carefully and saw that there was definitely enough room for her underneath it as well. She got as close to him as she could so that the blanket was almost fully covering her, but far enough that there was still about an inch of space left between them. Satisfied that she was an appropriate distance away from him she turned so that her back was to him and let the blanket settle onto her. Immediately once she stopped moving she felt warmer and more comfortable – she was asleep within a matter of minutes.

Occasionally the wind would pick up and whip cold air across her forehead, causing her to wake in a half-dreamlike state. One of these times, when she was only somewhat awake, she was vaguely aware of a heavy warmth resting over her waist and stomach, and the next time, a soft warm breath on her neck accompanied it, balancing out the coolness of the wind perfectly.

Sometime later, she became more aware as the warmth began to surround her uncomfortably, creeping into her skin, and making her sweat. Suddenly Appa let out a terrified sounding howl, and the saddle beneath her dropped an inch. Before Katara could sit up to see what had happened, Zuko had pulled her so her back was now flush with his chest – and she realized the original heavy warmth had been his arm draped over her while they slept – and he steadied her as Appa began to falter beneath them.

Appa steadied somewhat, but was still howling in fear, Katara looked up and saw the whole sky had turned bright orange, and the air was unbelievably sticky and hot. Realizing it was the comet finally streaking across the sky, she and Zuko locked eyes momentarily before they both made their way to the front of the saddle and climbed over to calm Appa down.

"It's okay Appa! It's just the comet!" Zuko said as Katara made hushing sounds and pet Appa affectionately, "it's too far away to hurt you, it's going to be okay!"

The comet roared overhead, and while Appa was calming down, Katara felt her heart rate speed up. The end of the war had officially begun.

-/\/\/\/\/\/\\-

* * *

 **A/N: Hi, I am so so sorry this took me so long to get out! Thank you so much for your patience! Everything just got kind of backed up after I got back from my trip - and I struggled with parts of this chapter too, I'm still not totally satisfied with all of it, but I think it's about as good as I can get it lol. And hopefully I should be more on track from here on out!**

 **Thanks so much to everyone who left me kind messages, you guys are so sweet! It really means so much to me that you guys are reading, and like it enough to leave comments, so thanks again!**

 **A few things I wanna just briefly talk about with this chapter - the mini earthbending rumble between Bumi and Toph is not my creation, I took the idea from the Lost Adventure comics, it was just so in character that I couldn't resist. It isn't a shot for shot adaptation, but the idea came from there. Also, I've been using a map for reference for the traveling, it helps with with time and spatial type stuff. Linking things doesn't work very well here lol, but if you wanna see what I've been generally going off of you can google "atla world map" and it's the reddit post that shows the Gaang's route throughout the series. In the same vein as that, it makes zero sense to me that it took them two days to get from Ember Island to Ba Sing Se, but then when Katara and Zuko have to go back to Caldera City, they get there in one day. So I had them keep flying east, and I just like to imagine that the ocean isn't too far to fly over in a day. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only person who's 'solved' that problem this way either. But yeah, the Great Western Sea is called that because it's West of the Fire Nation, but from Ba Sing Se they have to travel east to cross the western sea - kinda confusing I know lol, but my brain gets annoyed when things don't make sense spatially.**

 **Okay, this chapter is 11,193 words, making the total 84,769.**

 **Again, thanks so much for reading, see you all soon with the next one!**


	9. Worth

**In a New Light**

 **Chapter 9 – Worth**

-/\/\/\/\/\/\\-

From horizon to horizon the clouds burned like orange flames across the sky. While the moon and the stars of the night had whipped cool wind across their faces only minutes ago, the comet now had them wrapped in a thick blanket of heat.

It took a few minutes of petting and soothing words, but Appa calmed down and let them steer him again. Afraid he might get startled again, Katara and Zuko both stayed glued to their spots, each holding half the reins. Looking down below, Katara saw that they were over land again. They must finally be near the capital.

The newfound heat surrounding her was a reminder that the comet didn't just mean the end of the war she'd been fighting her whole life, but that it meant the firebenders power would be increased tenfold today too. She remembered the crackle and the flash of Azula's lightning – she could almost feel the static in the air already. But they had prepared for this. Zuko knew how to redirect lightning, and the comet would mean his firebending would be more powerful too. There was no more time for fear and doubt, this was it.

She noticed Zuko tense up as he looked off into the distance, "Zuko, don't worry, we can take Azula," she said reassuringly.

"I'm not worried about her, I'm worried about Aang," Zuko said, echoing her own thoughts from a few days ago, "what if he doesn't have the guts to take out my father – what if he loses?"

"Aang won't lose. He's going to come back," she said, trying to convince herself as much as him, "he has to." _No more time for fear,_ she reiterated to herself.

Meeting her eyes, he gave an understanding nod. He only held her gaze for a moment before his eyes shifted to look just beyond her. She turned to see they had just passed around the largest volcano on the island, and below them was the first rise of volcanic rock that surrounded Caldera City.

"We're here," he said with a gravely firmness.

With a few more comforting words to Appa, they steered him closer to the ground and toward where Zuko pointed to as the coronation plaza.

"I think I see her… it looks like they're about to crown her now," Zuko said quietly as they approached the courtyard.

Katara frowned slightly, "but where is everyone? Shouldn't there be a processional, and a crowd to usher her in?"

"You're right," he said with a quick glance back to Katara, "something's odd, but we don't exactly have time to figure it out."

He slapped the reins one more time as they passed over the surrounding wall of the courtyard. Appa let out a gruff roar, alerting the Fire Sages to their presence.

"What are you waiting for? Do it!" Azula's sharp voice pierced through the air just as they landed, and sent a shiver down Katara's spine.

Zuko stood tall on Appa's head, and Azula's head snapped up with a glare. "Sorry, but you're not going to become Fire Lord today," Zuko said with more confidence than Katara had ever heard from him, as he hopped down to the ground easily, "I am!"

Unfazed, Azula laughed with casualty, "you're hilarious," she mocked.

"And you're going down!" Katara said, walking up to Zuko to stand by his side.

The Fire Sage behind Azula moved to continue crowning her, but she held up a hand in protest. "Wait! You want to be Fire Lord? Fine – let's settle this, just you and me, brother, the showdown that was always meant to be – AGNI KAI!"

Katara's brow furrowed, _of course she'd try something like this._ She glanced to her left and saw Zuko still momentarily.

"You're on," he said after pausing only for a moment.

Katara looked over at him in surprise – surely, he wasn't dense enough to fall for this? "What are you doing?" her voice dripping with concern, "she's playing you! She knows she can't take us both, so she's trying to separate us!"

"I know, but I can take her this time," he said, still looking directly forward, unable to break his stare with his sister.

"But even you admitted to your uncle that you would need help facing Azula," Katara continued, hoping to instill some sense in him.

"There's something off about her. I can't explain it, but she's slipping," he said, unwavering, "and this way, no one else has to get hurt," he finished, finally turning to meet Katara's eyes.

His eyes alone told her how sure he was of this, and while she wasn't fully comforted, she trusted his judgement. _And I'll be right here if you need me, just in case,_ she thought, hoping her gaze back to him was enough for him to know. She gave him a firm nod, and turned to look over Azula – he was right, Katara hadn't noticed it before, but Azula was decidedly less put together than she usually was, her hair was completely out of place, her smile was wilder than usual, and even her stance seemed off kilter. Zuko had a chance.

Azula's lips quirked even further upwards in response to her challenge being accepted. "Well, what are you waiting for?" she turned back to the High Sage behind her, "I said 'Agni Kai' old man!"

"Ye-yes Princess," the High Sage faltered only for a moment, "Princess Azula, Prin – er, _former_ Prince Zuko, as per an official Agni Kai, you both shall start on opposite ends of the field, the first to burn or kill the other will be named the victor, and in this case, Fire Lord."

Azula let out an almost crazed sounding laugh, before she composed herself a little too abruptly. "Since I'm first in line, I'll be starting on this side, and you can walk to the other end brother," she waved her hand absently to the other side of the courtyard, "and make sure to tell your new pet beastie to fuck off, I don't want his filthy animal stench stinking up my arena."

Zuko glared at her, but otherwise didn't protest, and he and Katara walked back over to Appa.

"Hey buddy," Zuko said to him in a soft voice, "we need you to stay out of the way, okay? You don't have to go far, just right outside the walls will be okay. We'll call for you if we need you, alright?"

Appa gave a half-hearted grunt, but nuzzled into Zuko's hand, before he pushed off the ground and flew just beyond the walls of the plaza.

Katara paused a moment longer to look Zuko in the eyes again, "you sure you're going to be alright?"

"I'll have to be," he said, with a shine in his eye.

She smiled softly in return, and gave his upper arm a gentle squeeze, before she jogged off to stand by one of the pillars that divided the courtyard from the surrounding walkways.

The Fire Sages took their places on the side opposite Katara. They were far away, but Katara could sense uneasiness between them as they settled into their seats. Zuko and Azula crouched, facing away from each other on their respective sides of the arena, waiting for the High Sage to give the signal to begin.

The Sage sitting in the middle seat rose up, "you may commence."

Zuko's shoulders rose, and then fell as he let out a deep sigh and stood to turn around.

Azula followed suit, peeling her outer cape off her shoulders with a dramatic flair, "I'm sorry it has to end this way, brother."

Zuko held his hands in a steady stance in front of himself and spoke calmly, "no, you're not."

Azula seemed to sway slightly on her feet as she held her hands up in a claw-like bending position. _What's going on with her? It's almost like she's drunk,_ Katara almost felt concerned for her. Almost. The princess held her stance only for a moment before she spun to unleash a massive jet stream of blue fire right down the field toward Zuko.

Katara gasped and stumbled backward slightly from the heat of it. _So, this is what Sozin's Comet does for firebenders…_ She had never seen someone create flames so large – they were more like ocean tides than fire balls. Katara whipped her head over to see Zuko step forward, unfazed, as he scooped his hands down into a defensive stance, and created a shroud of flames around himself that easily diffused Azula's blue ones.

Azula was unrelenting, pushing forward with a never-ending series of punches and kicks, but Zuko held his ground, deflecting each of her advances with huge walls of his own orange flames. Their fiery walls went higher and higher with each attack, blue and orange mixing, clashing, and bouncing off each other, sending embers all around the arena.

Katara found herself having to dodge several flames sent unintentionally her way, and she slowly edged closer to Zuko's side of the arena, her getting slightly singed in the process. The tops of the surrounding buildings began to catch on fire, and smoke started to fill the air.

Through the haze, Katara could still see the steady streams of blue and orange as they pushed and slid past each other, Zuko still never faltering, planting himself firmly in his place. Azula seemed to be growing impatient though, instead of continuing to send straight shots directly at him, she propelled herself forward, blasting fire from her feet, to circle around him, sending more fire punches at him as she went.

She was circling fast, but Zuko must have seen an opening, he quickly dropped his defensive stance to roll onto his back, and swirl his legs around his body, sending out several large rings of flames – a move Katara had seen him use in their sparring sessions several times, but never with this level of power. The flames reached so far that Katara had to duck back behind a pillar not to be hit by them.

There was a smack of armor hitting the stone ground, and Katara turned back quickly to see that Zuko had managed to knock Azula down, sending her rolling across the arena with a grunt. She stood, her breathing raspy, and hair hanging disheveled around her face. She looked like a feral animal.

"No lightning today?" Zuko taunted as Azula regained some breath, "what's the matter? Afraid I'll redirect it!?"

Palms sweating, Katara ran forward without thinking. This was it – she knew Azula wouldn't be able to resist him baiting her, and Katara needed to be by his side in case something went wrong.

"Oh, I'll show you lightning!" Azula cried, hunched over like a crazed tiger-monkey.

Katara froze, still some distance away from the both of them, as Azula began to wind into her lightning bending stance. Glancing back over at Zuko, he still had that unwavering calmness about him, as he took a deep breath and steadied himself into position. _He can do it, he's going to do it!_

Azula circled the lightning around herself, her expression fiercer than Katara had ever seen – filled with malice, and desperation – and suddenly Katara realized she had shifted her gaze from Zuko, and was now focused solely on Katara. Time slowed down. Everything was blue, and as the hairs on her arm began to stand on end, Katara couldn't think about anything other than the sickening crackle of the air, and the image of a burnt, limp body falling in a lifeless heap, onto the cold cave floor.

Shaking uncontrollably, she couldn't move as she saw the pulsing blue streak headed right for her, and out of the corner of her eye, she registered that Zuko had begun to move, left arm outstretched, as he dove in front of the bolt that was meant for her.

 _NO!_ She was sure she was shrieking, but no sound left her body. She watched in absolute horror as the lightning wrapped around his body, suspending him in midair, wracking and contorting him, until he fell with a heartbreaking thud. His limbs twitched unnaturally, and he convulsed once more before the lightning shot out of his chest and back into the sky with an earth-shattering ripping sound.

As soon as the static left the air, it was like a switch went off in Katara, whatever god forsaken force had kept her rooted to her spot was gone. "ZUKO!" she yelled. She had to get to him, she had to fix him, she needed him to be okay.

He looked up at her, his hand outstretched, and she was sure he was mouthing her name. Yearning to reach back to him, she immediately coated her hand with water from one of her water skins and held her hand out to him. But, hurling herself forward, she only made it a few steps before Azula sent another bolt of lightning at her feet. She screamed, and dodged it just in time, sparing a quick glance at Zuko, who was still reaching out to her – still moving – there was still hope.

Azula cackled maniacally and ran straight for her. _Fucking bitch,_ Katara thought with little remorse, as she tore her gaze away from Zuko, willing him to hold on a little longer while she took care of his nut bag sister.

She dove out of the way of another attack, and the rubble from the explosion that had just missed her, fell to the ground like hail. Azula catapulted herself up onto the roof of the surrounding building with ease.

"I'd really rather our family physician look after little Zuzu, if you don't mind," Azula quipped down to Katara, not hesitating before sending another combination of lightning and fire her way.

Using the dust from Azula's latest attack to her advantage, Katara dove off to the side, behind one of the pillars. She had to do something fast, Zuko was running out of time. Images of Aang's broken, lightning charred body filled her head again – she didn't have any spirit water this time, if she was able to do something, it had to be as soon as possible.

"Oh, Zuzu, you don't look so good!" Azula continued taunting.

Unable to help herself, Katara looked out from the pillar she was hiding behind, and briefly saw Zuko still crumpled on his stomach, before Azula sent another flash of lightning her way. Taking water from the nearby exposed waterline Katara shot a stream of it over onto the roof where Azula had been standing – but she wasn't there anymore, and a moment later she snuck up behind Katara, blasting more fireballs.

 _Keep it together! You can out smart her! You have to!_ Quickly, she pulled more water from the waterline to make waves of ice that she could quickly surf to avoid Azula's fire propelled speed. Katara was only barely faster than her, and she landed hard on her knees on top of another water grate in the walkway just outside the arena. Seeing a chain tied to the pillar in front of her, she knew what she had to do.

"There you are, filthy peasant!" Azula said creeping up to her, eyebrows glowering down.

 _Just a few steps closer…_ Azula moved forward only slightly, before her patience gave out and she moved to bend another bolt of lightning – but Katara was quicker, she pulled at the water beneath them with all her might, and froze it as soon as she felt it pass the top of her head.

Azula was frozen solid, her fingers a mere inch away from Katara's face. Pausing only for a second, to be sure Azula couldn't move, Katara then blew hot air out her nose and willed the water around her body to melt. She swam through the still mostly frozen block of ice, and tied to chain she found around Azula's wrists and bound her to the grate below. With a quick check to make sure it was tight enough, she swiftly dropped the water around them before she ran back to Zuko in the center of the arena.

 _Don't be too late. Please, please don't let me be too late._ Zuko was still lying chest down, his face slightly turned up to look at Katara as she closed the distance between them. Tears were already stinging her eyes as she skidded to the ground next to him. As carefully as she could, she lifted his shoulders, and gently cradled his head to turn him over. Her heart fluttered with hope momentarily as he let out a pained grunt from the movement. But she quickly shoved the hope back down, as she prepared herself for what she had to do. She couldn't stop herself from remembering the feeling of Aang's lifeless heart when she healed him in Ba Sing Se, and she wasn't sure if she could handle feeling Zuko so close to death.

With a deep breath she pulled as much water as she could from her water skins and coated it around her hands. _Please, please, please, I can't lose him,_ she nervously placed her hands over the raw burnt flesh in the middle of his chest. To her immediate surprise, she felt that his heart was okay – he must have managed to at least partly redirected the lightning away from his heart and down into his stomach. But he was still in bad shape. The muscles in his upper abs had been completely ripped and burnt to shreds – she could feel where he had lost control, and the lightning broke from his chi paths, and tore through his chest instead. Some of his internal organs seemed damaged as well, and she started the healing there.

 _Okay, just imagine you have the spirit water – remember how it flowed through you – focus on his chi paths, work from the inside out._ It killed her to see him in so much pain, she would pour her life into her water for him right now if she could. Occasionally he would let out a pained grunt, and his teeth would clench involuntarily. Even though it hurt her to see him like this, she knew awake and in pain was better than not awake at all. The linings of his organs began to slowly stitch together, and she could feel his breathing begin to steady out – his muscle tissue was still severely torn, but his heart rate was calming down, and – and he was looking at her.

She felt hope surge back through her veins as she turned to look into his eyes, "thank you Katara," he said, his voice weak.

Her tears flowed freely now, and she felt her chest heave in relief, "I think I'm the one who should be thanking you."

He smiled at her with difficulty, and even though his was pale faced and clammy, she saw his eyes shine for her with the same fierceness they always had. Carefully, she helped him sit up, and wrapped his arm around her shoulder so that he could stand.

It was only now that Katara realized that Azula had been shrieking with rage this entire time. She and Zuko watched her in horror as she blew flames out her nose and mouth, before she collapsed in a fit of tears against the grate she was tied to. It was awful, to see someone once so in control, just be lost like this – and yet neither of them could look away.

Katara held on tight to Zuko's arm, as they watched in silence as Azula completely broke down. A few moments later, the Fire Sages finally made their way over to them. In all the chaos, Katara had forgotten why they were fighting in the first place.

"What happens now?" she asked the High Sage.

The older gentlemen did not look at her, but turned to Zuko instead, "the Princess forfeited the duel when she made to attack a bystander. By the official rules stated for an Agni Kai, Zuko of the royal family, you have been decided the winner."

Zuko nodded to him, "take my sister somewhere where she can't hurt herself or anyone else. I'll decide a permanent solution for her later."

"Yes, your majesty," the High Sage motioned to the other sages to take care of Azula, "and shall I send for you physician?" He looked at Katara for the first time with a hard stare.

Zuko's eyes narrowed, "no that won't be necessary. Katara's care will be more than sufficient."

The High Sage looked over Katara one more time, not bothering to hide his disgust, before he turned with a tut and followed the other sages as they restrained Azula.

"What was that look he gave me?" Katara turned to Zuko, slightly offended.

"I'm technically Fire Lord now, and the idea of a simple Water Tribe girl taking care of me with 'magic water' isn't exactly going to go over well with anyone here. There's a lot of things that need changing in the Fire Nation," he spoke slowly, still out of breath.

"That's ridiculous, did they not just see me heal you!? It isn't just 'magic water' it's waterbending! All your people actually think I'm just some simple, filthy peasant – Zuko? _Zuko?_ " He had begun to lean his weight on her more heavily, and his shoulders slumped down.

Katara caught him quickly around the waist before he collapsed completely.

"Ah, I'm uh, alright, just need to, ah, lay down…" he slung his arm around her shoulder with difficulty, and she did her best to hold as much of his weight as she could on his hip so that she could lead him down the hall.

"Where's your room? Do you think we can make it that far?" she asked frantically, her voice pitching.

He winced and clutched at his stomach, but nodded, "down the hall, all the way, then there's a secret passage that will get us there faster."

She nodded and immediately started walking him forward, using all her body weight to push him as fast as he could go. His grip was tight around her shoulder, and she could tell he trying as hard as he could to stay standing. She lifted her left hand to meet his and squeezed it reassuringly. It was slow going, but they made it to the end of the hall.

"How do you open the passage?" Katara looked around, seeing nothing but an ordinary stone wall.

"Take that sconce off the wall, and then help me lift my hand up to it," he said through gritted teeth.

Katara quickly used her left hand to bend some water out of her water skin and slice the sconce off the wall. As gently as she could she lifted Zuko's hand off her shoulder and placed it flat on the hole that the sconce had left behind. He took a deep breath and pushed a small stream of fire into the hole.

Suddenly there was a loud rumbling noise, and a slab of the wall dropped down to open just wide enough for two people to fit through. The passageway was dim, but they could manage. After walking forward a few feet, the pathway branched out in three directions. She looked up at Zuko questioningly.

"Left," he rasped.

She nodded and they pushed on, coming to a small set of stairs, and her anxiety piled up even higher, "Zuko…"

"I'll be… fine… It's just at the top…"

Katara inhaled and exhaled slowly, steadying herself as she used all her strength to help lift his upper body so there was less weight on his legs and core as he trudged his way up. He winced and grimaced as he went and Katara felt tears prickling her eyes again. They were so close, just a few more stairs.

The top of the stairs had a small landing area, and then a dead end, but where the walls had previously been made of stone, this one was just wood. Zuko's head was beginning to droop, and Katara took one last look at the panel of wood before she kicked at it as hard as she could. It swung open with extreme force, and cracked in a few places. Turns out it was just a flimsy place holder wall, meant to get easily in and out of Zuko's bedroom.

She couldn't help but notice how both empty, and ridiculously large and ornate his room was, as they hobbled quickly over to his bed in the dead center of the room. Helping to bend his knees, she shifted his body into the center of the bed as carefully as she could. He let out a sigh of relief as soon as his body was fully supported, and he even managed a small smile.

Clambering up to sit on her knees next to him, she immediately pulled out more water and placed her hands on his midsection. The tissues were all still so torn, she had to focus on individual strands to sew them back together piece by piece. She had never done anything this intricate before. A tear spilled over and landed on her water coated hands with a small 'plop.'

"Katara…" he whispered, lifting his right hand to brush her elbow, before he dropped his arm back down to his side.

She looked up at him with the best smile she could muster, ignoring the tears that were now steadily streaming down her face. "You're okay, don't worry, you're going to be fine," her voice came out surprisingly strong, and she lifted her hand to gently hold his face.

He smiled weakly back to her, his cheekbone pressing into the palm of her hand, and his eyes as reassuring as always. She marveled at his lack of fear, and his faith in her healing abilities. He moved to try and sit up, and opened his mouth as if he was about to speak, but something caught in his throat, and he began to cough. Immediately when his body contracted from coughing, his left hand clung to his stomach in pain, and when his hand covering his mouth pulled away, they both looked down in horror to see a spattering of blood.

"Okay, okay, okay. It's fine!" Katara rushed frantically, leaping off the bed, "y-you had some internal damage, s-so your body is probably j-just trying to get rid of the damaged tissue – I, uh, I think I have an idea of what to do, b-but it's not going to be pleasant." She looked at him for a sign of understanding, and rushed off to the bathroom attached to his room as soon as he nodded back to her, and another coughing fit wracked his body.

His bathroom too, was impractically large, and featured a tub in the complete middle of the room. She moved first to the water basin, turned the faucet – _thank Spirits the Fire Nation has running water_ – and plugged the drain hole at the bottom with a block of ice. She ripped every towel off their hook, and then began to rummage through every drawer and cabinet there was, all while letting the water basin fill as high as it would go. In the back of the cabinet next to the toilet, she found what she was looking for – it looked like a basin used for soaking feet, but it would do. She grabbed it and quickly went back to the sink, filling the large bowl with water as fast as she could.

 _Agh! This is going to take too long!_ "Oh, fuck it!" she exclaimed, as she just bent as much water as she could out of the bowl and the sink and threw as much of the water as she could onto the floor of Zuko's room, and then left the faucet still running, so that she'd have an endless supply if she needed it.

"K-Katara…?" Zuko said faintly from beyond the doorway.

She scooped up the towels, and the foot-soaking basin and slid back into the room as gracefully as she could manage, "all part of the plan!"

"You flooded my bedroom?" he asked confused, his eyes starting to get a glossy sheen to them.

"Yep, it'll help, see?" She bent one of the now many, puddles of water streaking across his floor, up and into one of the many towels she was carrying, as she hurried back over to the bed. Then taking the now soaked towel, she placed it onto his forehead, "does that help?"

"Mhm," he said, his voice barely above a whisper now.

"Hey! You gotta stay awake, okay!?" Panic now starting to creep into her voice, as she wetted more towels, and placed them under his armpits. She needed him awake to get the damaged tissue out.

His eyes refocused at the tone of her voice, and he nodded as best he could. Propping him with some of his pillows, so that he was sitting straight up, she looked him in the eye, "okay, listen, I need you to drink a whole bunch of this water, and then I'm going to try and bend it around in your stomach to help clear out the tissue, and then I'm going to bend the water back out your throat."

He paled, and his eyes went wide, "c-can you do that – why don't we just leave the tissue in there? It'll probably be fine – I feel fine."

She shook her head sympathetically, "sorry, but if I don't do this, then we have no idea if you can cough it all up, or how much damage there is. This way I can heal all the lining of your stomach from the inside."

He gulped, and promptly lifted the basin of water to his mouth. Katara nodded firmly, gave him one last look of apology, and then placed her hand on his chest again, feeling around for the water. She found it and worked as quickly as she could, swirling it around, looking for tears, and stitching up the few she did find. Beneath her fingers, Zuko squirmed uncomfortably, but didn't complain. When she was sure she had all the burned tissue, she met his eyes again, and as gently as she could, brought the water back up to his throat, and let his body do the rest. She held the basin just under his chin, and rubbed his back as he coughed and spluttered, occasionally gasping for air. Once he had gotten it all out, he laid his head back in exhaustion, and mouthed 'thank you.'

He relaxed, and let out a huge sigh, as a smirk played on his lips, "I thought… I told you… that I never wanted to see vomitbending again… in my life," he said through raspy breaths.

Mouth open, she stared back at him. Was he making a joke – teasing her _again_ about taking care of her when she was drunk? Her mouth turned upward to laugh, but a sob came out instead, "you, asshole! Yo-you could have died! You were hit by _lightning_ , and y-you couldn't w-walk, and you just cough up b-blood, and n-now you're m-mocking me for s-something I did a w-week ago?" She wasn't sure where her anger was coming from, she was unbelievably happy that he was okay enough to joke around, but her hands were still shaking, and she just couldn't stop thinking about what could have gone wrong. "You could have died, y-you almost d-died Zuko!"

"Hey, hey," his voice was apologetic and soothing, barely audible over the sounds of Katara hyperventilating, "I'm okay, you healed me. I'm okay," he repeated, lifting his hand to cup her cheek this time, his thumb running over the streaks of dried tears that ran down her face.

She took a deep breath through her nose, and exhaled shakily, leaning into his touch slightly. They stayed like that for a moment, as his eyes began to droop, and she reached up to gently place his hand back down at his side.

"You can get some rest now, while I work on healing your muscles some more," she matched his soft tone.

She grabbed some more water and focused on stitching together as much of his chest as she could. His fingers lightly brushing her knee, until he drifted off to sleep. When his breathing began to even out, Katara felt her composure slip again, she hadn't wanted to let him see how scared she had really been. Tears pitter pattered onto the backs of her hands as she sniffled in silence.

"You're so stupid…" she whispered, shaking her head. _You almost sacrificed your life – everything – for what? For me?_ Her hands shook and she clenched her eyes tight. _We could have lost everything, we could have lost the war…_ "I could have lost you…" _It's not worth it… This is exactly why I wanted to be careful, I'm not worth it…_

She was shaking up to her shoulders, and had to clamp her hand over her mouth to stay quiet enough not to wake Zuko. His breaths continued steadily, and she did her best to match her own to his. Inhale through the nose, and out the mouth. Repeat. Her heart was still pounding, and blood still buzzing, but she wasn't laboring to just catch a breath anymore.

Looking over his wound, it was a raw pink color, and would definitely scar, but she had done all she could for right now. The skin needed some time on its own to get used to its new positioning before she continued sewing it back together.

She stood to dump out the basin that was still next to her on the bed, and to stop the water running in the bathroom. The towels under his arms needed changing too, but she left the puddles of water on the floor, too exhausted to bend anymore this evening.

There was so much more for her to do – she needed to write to Iroh and Sokka to tell them what happened, and she needed bandages to properly set Zuko's wound, but she felt heavy, and couldn't bring herself to do anything other than collapse onto the bed next to him.

Grabbing his right arm so that it was extended away from his chest, she laid her head on his bicep and faced away from him, her hair splayed wildly on the pillow above her. She hesitated momentarily, but moved her left hand to intertwine her fingers with his, and gave it a squeeze before she fell into an unmoving sleep.

\- \/\ -

Cold fingers wrapped tightly around Katara's wrist and yanked her off the bed harshly. She immediately went to bend some of the water around her, but another cold hand caught her other wrist before she could move. With a growl she looked up to see the face of an extremely stern looking Fire Nation woman who was looking down at Katara with the utmost disgust.

"Get off me! Who _are_ you!?" Katara struggled against her as hard as she could.

"I am Madame Zhi, I am the official physician to the royal family, and will be taking over the Fire Lord's care from now on," she responded coolly.

" _No!_ I've already started using water healing on him, you could make it worse!" she continued to thrash against Madame Zhi's iron grip, "agh! Get the fuck off me! He needs me here!"

Madame Zhi's eyes narrowed at the swearing, but she never lessened her hold, "it is uncouth for a feral peasant such as yourself to be sharing a bed with the Fire Lord like this, and you shall now be removed from his presence."

"No! Stop!" Katara kicked at her legs as the older woman pulled her across the room, "Zuko!"

"Katara...?" Zuko rasped in confusion from the bed, causing Katara to further resist the hold on her.

"Madame?" came the soft voice of a meek looking girl, who Katara had only just noticed was also in the room with them, "his wound does seem to be much less severe than we anticipated – maybe there is something to be learned from the peasant girl?"

Madame Zhi gave an impatient sigh, and looked over Zuko's chest curiously, "alright, girl, show me what you did." She shoved Katara back toward the bed roughly.

Katara shot her a death glare, but refrained from attacking the physician, for fear of being restrained again. She climbed onto the bed to sit on her knees next to Zuko, and demonstrated her technique. His wound glowed from the water, and was a slightly less angry color when she finished.

"Wow!" the young Fire Nation girl exclaimed in awe.

"Quiet, Min," Madame Zhi scolded, "but, it is quite fascinating. If used in combination with practical medicine, it could be quite effective. Girl," she turned to Katara, "you will come with me to the hospitals to help treat burns, and further demonstrate your water skills."

The audacity of this women, to insult Katara so blatantly, then only moments later offer her praise, and all the while still trying to take her away from Zuko, only furthered Katara's rage, "the hell I will! I'm not leaving this room!"

"Madame Zhi," Zuko said, sitting up, his voice still hoarse, "Katara was instrumental in saving me, and healing this wound. She will stay here with me if that's what she wants."

Katara smiled at him gratefully, while Madame Zhi's cool exterior faltered somewhat, "but, your Highness, it is highly inappropriate for a foreign girl to be in charge of your care!"

He held his hand up to stop her speaking, with an air of authority Katara had never seen him use before, "now that I am Fire Lord, there are a lot of things that are going to change in this country, and I would prefer not to have to fight political battles within my own staff, as well as with the general public. Katara is a great healer and a friend, I trust her, and you will too."

Madame Zhi bowed her head, "yes, Fire Lord."

He nodded back stiffly, "if Katara agrees to it, you can assist her in healing me, but for now, if you could bring me some parchment, and a messenger hawk."

"Oh, and some bandages!" Katara added quickly.

The Madame clearly didn't take well to following orders from a Water Tribe girl, but she left with a curt nod, and Min trailing just behind her.

Katara let out a sigh of relief when the door closed. "I did not like her," she said bitterly.

"She's got to be one of the fiercest women in the country, but we can trust her. She was the only one willing to help treat me right before my banishment – I'd have a lot worse than this scar if it weren't for her, and she risked a lot to do that for me, I don't think my father ever found out." He paused, before letting out an easy laugh and shaking his head, "I can't believe you told Madame Zhi to fuck off…"

"She was dragging me out of the room!" Katara replied indignantly.

Zuko shrugged, "I think I've heard you swear more in the last day and half than the entire time I've known you."

Katara stared at him incredulously, "out of everything that's happened, that's the detail you decide to focus on!?"

"Well, I can't exactly move around right now, so I'm not sure what kind of productivity I could get up to anyway."

She rolled her eyes, "actually, once we get some bandages, I think you'll be able to walk okay, as long as you have some assistance."

He looked up at her in surprise, "really? Aang said it took weeks for him to recover after Azula shot him."

She nodded, "Aang's injuries were a lot worse than yours… his heart stopped, and his body had already begun to shut down," she looked away, trying to stop the images from that day from popping up again, "but I think you did manage to redirect some of the lightning, and it was mostly just your core muscles that were hit. It will take a while for me to fully heal them, but it will be good for your muscles to get used to holding up some of your weight to further the healing process along."

"If you say so," he said apprehensively. The technicalities of healing weren't exactly his forte.

"Okay, you should try moving on your own first, and I'll be right here if you need me," she gestured to him to move off the bed.

Swinging his legs off the bed with a great effort, he eased himself up onto his feet, still holding on to the edge of the bed to steady himself. Katara stood to his side arms outstretched, in case she needed to catch him. Pushing himself up to his full height, he had to clench one arm around his middle, but was otherwise able to stand on his own, even if he was wavering slightly.

"How do you feel?" Katara asked, her tone coming off clinically.

Zuko grimaced as he thought it over, "better than last night I think."

She looked over him, he was standing taller than last night for sure, and even though he was clutching his stomach, it was clear he was much improved. "Good, let's try to do a lap around the room."

He let out a resolved sigh, which Katara took as confirmation, and she hooked her right arm around his waist, slung his left arm over her shoulder, and grabbed his hand so she could support his weight as much as he needed.

They walked around the room slowly, Zuko taking it a few steps at a time, and stopping occasionally so that he could catch his breath. It was hard work, and he had to grunt is way through it, but overall, he was doing well.

They had made it almost a full lap around the room when there was a light knock at the door, followed immediately by Min reentering the room. Bundled in one arm she held a roll of parchment, and a swatch of bandages, while with her other arm she tried desperately to hold down a wily looking messenger hawk.

Zuko nodded to her, and told her to place the parchment paper onto the desk that sat on the side of the room near the large windows. Min did as she was told, placing the bandages next to the paper as well, while Katara slowly walked Zuko over to the desk. Once he was sat down, he looked up at Min curiously, who was still hovering somewhat uncomfortably.

"I, uh, my mistress wanted me to inform Miss Katara," she looked at Katara cautiously, "that the Avatar's flying cow has been causing quite a raucous in the palace gardens."

Katara and Zuko looked at each other and gasped simultaneously, "Appa!" She had been so busy worrying about Zuko that she forget they had left him unattended in the Fire Nation Palace of all places.

She stood, looking between Min and Zuko contemplating what she should do. He said they could trust Madame Zhi, and she hoped that meant they could trust Min by association. "Min, you stay here and make sure Zuko is okay while he writes to his uncle, and help him back to bed if he needs to rest. And I'll go make sure Appa is okay."

"There's a barn off the North Eastern side of the palace where we keep some koala-sheep, it should be big enough to house Appa for now," Zuko said, a sense of urgency to his voice.

Katara made to move to the door when Min piped up, "w-wait! I'm sorry Miss Katara, but my mistress insisted I was to escort you."

Stopping in her tracks, Katara stared back at her, "Min, you're training to be a Fire Nation healer, or whatever you call it here, right?" Min gave a nod and mouthed 'physician' weakly. "Okay, then you _know_ that we can't just leave Zuko unattended when he's just been shot full of lightning. And I'm sure your mistress, Madame Zhi, knows that too," Katara continued, trying to hide her disdain as she spoke the head physician's name.

"I, uh, yes, b-but the Madame insisted, 'we cannot permit the Water Tribe girl to roam wherever she pleases on our royal grounds,'" Min mumbled, clearly uncomfortable with having to repeat her mistress's words.

Katara had to refrain from stomping her foot in frustration, and spoke through gritted teeth, "what seems worse to you? Leaving your newly appointed, and _severely injured_ Fire Lord on his own, or the potential that I'll run amok in your oh-so hallowed halls?"

Min looked between Katara and Zuko again, the latter of which was looking rather amused by Katara's anger at the situation – much to her further annoyance. After a moment Min relented and nodded to Katara to go find Appa.

With one final nod to Zuko, Katara set off down the hallway outside his room. And, she was immediately lost. Having taken the secret passage into his room the night before, she had no way to orient herself to her new surroundings, and began just aimlessly wandering. As she meandered she hoped to run into someone friendly who might be willing to give her directions to the palace gardens, but she didn't encounter a single person as she turned down hall after hall. She remembered how there had been no one at Azula's supposed coronation either with confusion, _that's odd. Where did everyone go?_

Eventually she came to a hallway that had a long stretch of windows, and she could see below where she was standing a small courtyard with a few trees and a small pond. And backed up in the corner, a very wary looking flying bison. _Appa!_ Katara looked around her for the nearest staircase and ran down and out into the garden.

Appa relaxed immediately upon seeing her. "Hey buddy, I am so _so_ sorry for leaving you like that," she consoled, giving him a huge hug. "We're okay, Zuko's going to be okay."

He whined questioningly in response, but nuzzled in to her touch.

Katara sighed, having a feeling what Appa was still worried about, "sorry Appa, we still don't know where Aang is… but the comet is gone and no one in the Fire Nation has tried to kill us yet, so, I guess I'm taking that as a good sign."

Appa gave a grunt that sounded like an emphatic 'hmph,' and he allowed Katara to lead him in the direction of the barn Zuko mentioned. It didn't take too long to find, it turned out to be just a little way out of the palace from where the garden was. Getting Appa settled in, she made sure there was lots of hay for him to eat. The koala-sheep didn't seem to mind their new visitor either.

Katara felt a little strange leaving Appa again so soon, in an environment she wasn't sure she could completely trust, but she wasn't sure what other option she had. She had to get back to dress Zuko's wound, and she rationalized that there were so few people around that Appa should be safe for at least the night.

From the barn, she tried to retrace her steps as best as she could, and made it back to the open garden area without much of a problem. She knew she had to get back up to the second floor, but after that she was at a loss. She had been wandering for some time when she was walking down, yet another, long hallway – this one covered in tapestries of previous Fire Lords – when a stern voice called out to her.

"Girl!" Katara turned to see Madame Zhi looking frustrated at the other end of the hall, "the Fire Lord has requested your presence, something about seeing an airship land outside his window."

Katara froze in place, "an airship!?" That could be anyone – it could be Ozai for all she knew, _what if Aang failed, what if he didn't come back?_ Zuko was just alone in his room like a sitting turtle-duck. "And you just left him there by himself!?"

The physician looked affronted, "excuse me, girl, but I do believe it was you who decided my assistant was sufficient enough to keep watch over our new Fire Lord."

"Agh!" Katara exclaimed. _Do all the Fire Nation Palace staff regard direct orders more highly than common sense!?_ "Well, then take me to him!"

Finally understanding Katara's urgency, a look of alarm came over Madame Zhi's face, and she quickly ushered for Katara to follow her back down the hallway she had come from. Luckily it was only a few turns and they were back outside the door to Zuko's bedroom. Zhi paused just before the threshold, looking as if she was composing herself to knock, but Katara heard muffled voices coming from inside, and rushed past her to slam the door open.

The whole sprint back to Zuko's room, Katara's mind had been racing with the possibilities of who could have possibly arrived on a Fire Nation airship, and none of the options she could come up with were positive. So, it was to her immediate surprise and relief that when she opened the door, she saw the form of a young bald monk with his signature blue arrow on his head hunched over Zuko's desk, looking over a letter.

Tears prickled her eyes, "Aang!"

"Katara!" the young Avatar swiveled around on his feet to look at her with a shining smile.

Closing the distance between them, Katara wrapped her arms around his neck fiercely, squeezing him as hard as she could, as a few tears spilled over onto her cheeks. Aang made a strangled grunt, but returned the fierceness of her hug happily.

She pulled back slightly to look over him. It had only been a few days, but somehow, he looked older, like he his spirit had been hardened. A flood of emotions coursed through her, she wasn't even sure where to begin, but a smile settled over her face as she met his kind grey eyes, "you're okay."

"Yep," he said cheerfully, before pausing and sheepishly avoiding her gaze. "You aren't mad at me for disappearing? Sokka said you'd be mad…"

Katara laughed, feeling lighter than she had in months, "oh, I'm mad. I can't believe you just disappeared _two days_ before the comet came!" She felt the anger in her bones, but she didn't hear it come out in her voice, and she realized, while it was true that she was angry with him, she was too relieved to be feeling anything else. "But, you're here, and – and you came in the airship! Which means that you did it right? The war is over?" she looked at him hopefully.

"Well, I still have to be crowned Fire Lord," Zuko spoke from where he sat at the desk, with an odd look on his face as he looked between Aang and Katara. His voice startled her – had she actually forgotten he was in the room? She suddenly realized her arms were still hung loosely around Aang's neck, and dropping them, she swiftly wiped the tears from her face, unsure exactly why she was embarrassed.

"And Zuko needs to decide what to with Ozai – but otherwise, yep, hundred-year war, over," Aang said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly after detangling himself from Katara.

Strange embarrassment momentarily forgotten, Katara looked at Aang with the utmost confusion. "What do you mean 'decide what to do with Ozai' – isn't he, ya know…" She looked to Zuko for support, but his face was oddly calm, doubling Katara's confusion.

"Uh, I sort of, took his bending away, and he's actually locked up on the airship right now," Aang said, still avoiding Katara's gaze.

She looked back at Zuko who merely shrugged – this, apparently, was not news to him. "You _what!?_ " she asked incredulously.

Aang immediately launched into his version of the last couple days, clearly very excited to share his adventure with her. Without interrupting, she motioned to Zuko to lay back down, so she could bandage his wound while Aang explained about a strange moving island that wasn't actually an island, but was in fact a giant Lion Turtle, as well as talking to his past lives, something called energybending, and how by some cosmic accident he was able to unlock his last chakra and go into the Avatar State.

"And, bing, bang, boom, Ozai's bending was gone, and now he's just a sad pile of sadness in his own giant warship," Aang finished, bouncing up and down on an air scooter at the side of the bed where Katara was sitting, finishing up binding Zuko's chest.

Katara paused before speaking again, it was a lot to take in, "that all seems… really convenient."

"Yep," Aang replied, still bouncing happily, "I think it was all meant to be."

While she was glad to see Aang so cheerful about this turn of events, as she looked at Zuko, still paler than his usual shade, lying in his bed with a hole in his chest, she couldn't quite bring herself to want to believe that him being so close to death was also 'meant to be.' But Aang was happy, and she didn't want to bring him down. Meeting Zuko's eyes, they had a silent conversation and she could tell he felt the same way. She had the urge to touch his face consolingly, but as her hand twitched to move, she became aware that it was no longer just the two of them in his room having healing sessions. A blush rose to her cheeks as she realized how comfortable she'd become physically with Zuko in the past day. It would hardly be appropriate to act on those _purely consoling_ – she told herself – urges with Aang, Madame Zhi and Min still hovering.

As if on cue, Madame Zhi tutted from the entrance of the room, "ahem, if I may, the sun is setting, and I think it's time for you all to retire to your own rooms. The guest wing isn't far from here, and there will be more than enough room for all of your companions."

Katara was going to huff in protest – this woman was always trying to take her out of this room! – but Aang spoke up first.

"Excuse me, Madame Zhi, but there are still some things I need to discuss with Fire Lord Zuko – official Avatar business you see. I'm sure I can find the guest rooms on my own," he spoke with a light, but clear authority.

"Yes, Avatar," she nodded politely, "but as I have told the Water Tribe girl many times now, these are the Fire Lord's chambers, it is not appropriate for her to sleep with him, and I will not be made to pull her from his bed again."

All three of them froze in place, Madame Zhi's phrasing hanging over them like a cloud, their eyes were wide and darting between each other. Aang looked at Katara with a torturous mix of confusion and hurt, and she couldn't meet his eye.

Katara bolted up from where she was sitting on the bed, and protested profusely, "no, no, that's not what she means! I only slept with him, I didn't sleep _with_ him – I mean! – I had to heal him, and I wanted to sleep with him to make sure he was okay – _next to him!_ Sleep _next to_ him!" She felt her words getting away from her, and she looked to Zuko for help, but his face was beet red, and seemed to be incapable of doing anything other than stare back at her and gulp in embarrassment – and there was something else, a hint of something sad?

Aang seemed somewhat placated though, and chuckled awkwardly, "uh, don't worry Katara, I know what you mean, I mean, we slept together plenty of times after Azula shot me with lightning."

Katara groaned and smacked her palm to her forehead, hoping it would distract from the burning of her cheeks. A moment later Aang seemed to have realized that he had fallen into the same trap that she had – and Katara was sure she could hear Madame Zhi snickering quietly to herself.

"Agh! Nevermind!" Katara said, throwing her arms up in exasperation, "Min, show me where the guest wing is! Zuko, I'll be back first thing in the morning to do more work on you – _on your wound!_ Healing, _healing_ , your wound." She dared to look at him one more time, to see him smile meekly at her and give a small wave, and a nod, before she walked toward the door with as much false confidence as she could muster, ignoring Madame Zhi's smug face as she went.

Once in the hallway she focused on willing her cheeks to cool down, and trying to listen to whatever it was Min was trying to tell her.

"- so, I tried to make him tea to go with it, but he never drank it because that's when the letter came, and I never had a chance to – "

"Sorry, Min, but can you repeat, uh, all of that?" Katara interrupted, interested in who would have known to send Zuko a letter at the Palace.

"Yes, sorry Miss Katara, I tend to talk a lot after uncomfortable situations…" Katara's cheeks heated once more, but she gestured for Min to keep talking anyway. "I brought the Fire Lord some food while you were attending to the Avatar's pet, but I think he became quite distracted once the letter from his uncle arrived."

Katara stopped in her tracks, "wait, a letter from Iroh? But Zuko hadn't even sent his letter yet, had he? Oh, never mind that – what did the letter say?"

"Sorry, Miss, but I don't know. It is not my business to read the Fire Lord's mail. But he did instruct Madame Zhi to begin preparations for his coronation and requested everything be ready for tomorrow evening."

 _Tomorrow? That's so soon… Zuko hadn't seemed upset, so at least Iroh's letter couldn't have contained bad news could it? Agh, why did I storm out of the room so quickly!?_

"Wait, Min, how come the head physician is the one in charge of planning Zuko's coronation – and why haven't I seen any other staff members around the palace?" Katara asked.

"Oh," Min looked away, as if she felt guilty for sharing a secret that wasn't hers to tell, "well, before you and the new Fire Lord showed up yesterday, the Princess banished almost all of the staff from the premises, out of fear of treason… But my mistress suggested we wait to check up on her for the time being, she said something about how being loyal to the Nation sometimes meant knowing when your leader needed some space… In fact, the Madame was acting quite strange all day, it is very unlike her not to immediately check on someone…"

"Hm," Katara hummed indifferently, unsure how to respond. She didn't know Madame Zhi well, and Zuko said they could trust her, so she hoped that Madame Zhi's ability to avoid Azula's anger was somehow intentional and for their benefit.

"I know my mistress can be harsh, but she really is the best physician in the capital – she just isn't very good at accepting there could be better ways to do things than the ways she was taught. That's probably why she was rude to you to get you out of the Fire Lord's chambers, rather than just asking you to go to the guest wing to take a look at the Water Tribe boy's leg – don't tell her I said that though!" she rushed out at the end, realizing she'd been speaking too much again.

"Water Tribe boy!? You mean Sokka's here too!?" Fresh tears began to prickle in her eyes at the thought of her brother being here and safe. Aang had mentioned Sokka earlier too hadn't he – _why didn't I realize he's probably here too – and Suki and Toph?_ "How much further to the guest wing!? I can find my own way!"

"Uh, just down this hall and then turn left. The Water Tribe boy was in the first room," Min said quickly as Katara had already started off running down the corridor.

Katara slid around the corner and turned the knob of the first door she saw, slamming open a door for the second time that day. Immediately she was greeted with her brother's familiar high-pitched yelp as he sat up in bed, and Suki gasped as she backed away from where she was standing by his side.

"Katara!" Sokka exclaimed, tears forming in his eyes too.

She crossed the room to give Suki a tight hug before she went to sit next to Sokka on the bed. She moved to hug him as well, but looked down at his leg wrapped with a thick bandage and splint holding it all together.

"What happened?" she asked concerned.

"Oh, you know, just fell off one giant metal airship onto another giant metal airship," he replied nonchalantly.

Katara shook her head with a smile, "well I'll see if I can do anything for it, but I don't know how to mend bones." She turned to take a better look at his injury and suddenly realized someone was missing from the room. "Where's Toph?" she asked with alarm.

"She's fine," Suki reassured her, "she's in the airship watching over Ozai. We were going to stay too, but once that scary physician lady saw Sokka's leg she insisted he come and lay down."

"She gave me some awesome pain medication too!" Sokka said with a sly grin, "and it's okay, Katara, my leg can wait until tomorrow, we know you've been healing Zuko pretty much all night. You should get some rest."

"How is he doing after everything," Suki asked.

Katara felt her throat close up as she thought about everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours, and she momentarily fought for breath. She shook her head as she spoke, trying to deny her tears, "he's going to need a lot more healing sessions, and he'll be okay. But it was… scary," she looked away from them both, embarrassed to be so vulnerable in front of them.

Suki leaned down to give her another hug, and Sokka pat her shoulder sympathetically; their gestures of kindness overwhelmed her as her tears dripped down off her chin.

"How exactly did it happen," Sokka asked hesitantly. Suki smacked him lightly across the shoulder and gave him a look of 'don't ask that right now!'

Shaking her head again, Katara pulled back from Suki's arms, "it's okay… He fought an Agni Kai with Azula, and when he taunted her she – she tried to shoot lightning at me instead. He dove in front of it to try and redirect it, b-but his stance was off because it all happened so fast, and he caught some of it, but the lightning tore through his stomach and his muscles are basically gone…" she looked into the distance as she spoke, feeling detached, unable to afford any emotion to it anymore. Sokka was right, she needed rest.

Suki's hand went to cover her mouth, while Sokka just stared in awe. The two shared a look, "he risked his life to save you," Sokka stated matter-of-factly.

"He risked _the war_ to save my life," Katara corrected, "he's an idiot." She meant it to come off as sarcastic, but in her confused mentally-exhausted state, it came across more as fondness. This time Katara caught it when Suki and Sokka exchanged another look with each other, and felt annoyance creep up as she was sure more teasing was about to come her way. "…What?" she asked wearily.

Suki shook her head adamantly, "nothing, nothing… If he was injured so badly, why aren't you there with him now?" she asked a little too politely.

Katara shrugged, "Aang needed to talk to him. And 'it is not appropriate for a Water tribe girl to share the bedchamber of the Fire Lord,'" she did her best Madame Zhi impression, with added air quotes.

"She said that in front of him?" Suki asked.

"In front of Aang too," Katara nodded, "she doesn't like me much."

Sokka laughed heartily, "oh man, I can't believe I missed that – I bet your face was priceless!"

Katara huffed, and stood to lay down on the other bed in the room, "goodnight." Glad as she was that all her friends were safe, she'd had enough teasing on top of this already emotionally draining day. It was time to get some rest.

\- \/\ -

Her dreams were blue, orange, and full of prickling static and the smell of burning wood. After tossing and turning, she eventually resigned to open her eyes and see the faint first light of dawn peeking through the room. Sokka was snoring across the room from her, and Suki was curled up on a sleeping mat in the center of the room. They looked so peaceful. Katara was glad at least some of them were sleeping well already.

Her eyes still burned from exhaustion, but she knew there'd be no going back to sleep – her brain was already buzzing, hoping something hadn't happened to Zuko in the night. It was too early, but it wouldn't hurt to go check on him would it?

Tip-toeing around Suki as carefully as she could, she moved to turn the doorknob slowly. Stepping over the threshold, she noticed a tray of food had been placed on the floor just next to the doorway. Bending down to grab a few rolls of bread, she noticed a small note slipped between two of the plates:

 _Miss Katara and Friends,_

 _Madame Zhi was able to convince some of the kitchen staff to come back now that the Princess's banishments have been presumably lifted. Please enjoy these specialty cakes._

 _Min_

Katara smiled to herself, and left the note and the rest of the food for her brother and Suki. _She got some of the staff to come back? Maybe Madame Zhi isn't so bad after all…_

She walked quickly down to Zuko's room, and found a similar tray of food outside his door, but with much more on it. Putting her own rolls in her mouth, she bent down to pick up his tray and knocked lightly on his door, before just pushing it open. The light was beginning to pour through the large windows off to the left of his room, illuminating some of the remnants of the many puddles she had created the night before. She shook her head as she walked toward the bed – how had no one thought to clean that up yet?

Zuko was sleeping face up, with his right arm thrown over his eyes, and his left laying lazily on his stomach. Katara couldn't help but smile to herself, he looked peaceful too. She set the tray down as lightly as she could next to him, but he stirred nonetheless.

His eyelids fluttered open, and he smiled at her as his eyes adjusted to the low lighting. "You're up before the sun?" he asked groggily.

She shrugged, "couldn't sleep. Look, you've got breakfast."

"Oh, I like these," he said with mild surprise as he reached out for one of the cakes, wincing slightly as he extended his arm fully.

They chatted while they ate, Katara helping him occasionally if reaching became too difficult, but for the most part he could get on by himself. She wanted to make sure he ate as much as he could before she changed his dressing and made him do another lap around the room.

"So, you're being coronated today?" she asked, hoping to get more information about Iroh's letter.

"Oh, I never told you that my uncle wrote to me!" he said apologetically, "he and the rest of the Order of the White Lotus from the camp are on their way and should be here this afternoon, they've been travelling since yesterday. They have to track down King Kuei, but Ba Sing Se is back under Earth Kingdom control. And he said we're all to be invited back to Ba Sing Se to discuss the conditions of peace once he's found," Zuko listed off, counting on his fingers.

"He wrote all of that not knowing if we had beaten Azula yet?" Katara asked, surprised that Iroh would write such sensitive information without confirmation.

Zuko looked away, trying to hide his embarrassment, "he said something about never doubting my abilities, and he was sure the letter would find me in good health."

Katara chuckled lightly, "well, he was sort of right," she gestured to his bandaged state.

"Thanks to you," he said sincerely, looking at her again.

She squirmed under the intensity of his gaze, trying her best not to let this feeling in her chest rise up and overwhelm her. And unsure how to respond she opted to change the subject. "Uh, so where's Aang? He never made it to the guest rooms with Sokka, Suki and I."

Zuko's face fell slightly, but he quickly recomposed himself. Katara wasn't sure why, but she felt a pang of guilt. "He went to stay on the airship to watch over my father with Toph," he said smoothly.

They chatted a bit more as she helped him sit up so she could take off his bandages, and she used some water to stitch him up some more, but something felt different in the air between them. She couldn't place what it was exactly, but she felt somehow distanced from him. Deciding she was just tired and imagining things, she continued working like nothing was wrong.

After helping him take a lap around the room, she praised him for being so improved in such little time, and helped to sit back down on the side of the bed.

"Do you want help putting on your robes?" she asked shyly.

He smiled, but shook his head, "I can manage on my own. Thanks for spending all this time helping me this morning. I know Sokka probably needs your attention too, and you'll be wanting to catch up with Aang and everyone else too."

She frowned slightly, he was smiling, but she couldn't tell if he was holding something back too. "Okay, well, have Min or someone call for me if you need me at all today. And I'll be back tonight for another healing session."

He nodded, and she paused for a moment before heading for the door, and she turned back to him. "You don't need to thank me for healing you, Zuko. I came here first thing because I wanted to – and I don't want you to think you're keeping me from anything else when I'm here," she said sincerely, giving his upper arm a light squeeze.

He reached his hand up to squeeze hers back for just a moment, before meeting her eyes with a small, "thanks." She smiled, the air between them feeling more comfortable again, and then she left.

As soon as she closed the door, she turned to walk back toward her room, and she ran straight into someone tall and red. Assuming it was Madame Zhi coming to check on Zuko, Katara brushed off her blue dress, and looked up to apologize, only to be met with a familiar indifferent-looking face.

Mai looked down at Katara with her eyebrows raised slightly, and hair just barely out of place, making her look as confused and disheveled as Katara had ever seen her.

They both just stared at each other for a moment, mouths opening and then closing again, unsure exactly what to say first. Katara became increasingly more aware of how this situation must look to Mai. Katara had just walked out of her ex-boyfriend's bedroom, early in the morning, with a wrinkled dress and un-brushed hair.

Realizing she should be the one to speak first, Katara quickly blurted out, "it's not what you think!"

Mai's eyes narrowed ever so slightly, "and what do you think I think?" she asked in her traditional monotone voice.

"Uhh…" Katara trailed off, trying to come up with the best way to salvage this situation, "I just mean, he's been injured… Azula shot him, and I've been healing him."

Katara saw a flash of something cross Mai's face – concern? Fear? – as she glanced from the door back to Katara. "Is he okay?" she asked, her voice a little softer now.

Katara nodded, "he will be… Actually, he's probably going to need some help with basic things today…" She felt like she was fighting herself, she knew she should tell Mai to go inside and help him, but something hot in her stomach was pulling her the other way. Steeling herself, she pushed past the feeling, "you should go in, I'm sure he'd like to see you."

Mai looked over Katara curiously, and her mouth upturned a fraction, "thank you."

With a swift nod, Katara rushed down the hallway back to her room, hoping to put that interaction, and those weird twisting feelings behind her.

\- \/\ -

Katara spent the day mostly just trying to keep herself busy. She tried to heal Sokka's leg with little success – he had good blood flow, and his muscle tissue was fairly intact, but she couldn't do much for the actual bone, then she spent some time catching up with Toph and Aang while they sat outside the room Ozai was being kept in – the plan was to have someone move him to a more permanent cell during the coronation. Around midday Madame Zhi found them just lounging about in the airship and put them to work setting up for the coronation; the plaza was still in a fair amount of disarray after the Agni Kai, after all.

More and more people showed up to help as the day went on, some former palace employs, coming back to take up their old jobs, but mostly, people from all over the world who had come to usher in a new era for the Fire Nation, and the world as well. Katara guessed Iroh must have sent word to members of the White Lotus all over, and people wanted to check out what the new Fire Lord was going to be like. She hoped Zuko wasn't too nervous about addressing all these people in a few hours.

When it was almost time for the ceremony to begin, Katara and Sokka combed through the crowd, looking for where the Kyoshi Warriors were standing. – Suki had gotten word earlier in the day that they had set off early the day before and would make it in time for the coronation. As they passed by familiar face after familiar face, Sokka spotted their father talking with Bato and Haru.

Katara's heart soared as she ran up to give him a huge hug. _He's safe. Everyone is safe._

"I heard what you two did," Hakoda said, looking them both in the eye, "I am the proudest father in the world. And your mother would be too."

Happy tears spilled onto Katara's cheeks as she touched her mother's necklace fondly. _The war is over mom, we did it_ , she said silently to herself, hoping somehow, she could hear her.

A moment later, Suki and the rest of the Kyoshi Warriors found them – and they had a new member. Sokka hobbled between Suki and Ty Lee, trying to protect his girlfriend, but Suki explained that she was actually taking Ty Lee under her wing. Apparently, Ty Lee missed being in the circus, but she wanted to do more than just perform, and liked the idea of being a part of a sisterhood of warriors. Katara could see there was still some apprehension on some of the other warrior's faces, but Ty Lee assured them she was with them now, and had promised to teach them chi blocking too.

A gong sounded, and the High Sage emerged from behind a curtain at the head of the courtyard. He instructed everyone to line up by nation, with the war heroes at the front. As Katara moved to the front of the crowd, she couldn't help but be overcome with a sense of awe as she passed by person after person who was glad to see the war end. People from all over the world, standing in the Fire Nation, willing to accept a new Fire Lord, with hope for new world peace.

With the sound of another gong, Zuko made his way to the front of the large staircase in front of the crowd. Standing there in his full Fire Lord regalia, hair pulled back neatly into a topknot, he looked regal and authoritative – like he belonged there. The crowd met him with whoops and cheers.

Zuko raised his hand to silence them, "please! The real hero is the Avatar," he gestured behind him, to where Aang was walking out to stand next to Zuko.

The crowd erupted into even more cheers and chants, and Katara looked up at them both with pride. To see them both standing there as a symbol of teamwork and forgiveness was so powerful, that it took another minute or so to calm the crowd down again so Zuko could speak.

"Today, this war, is finally over," Zuko's voice rang through them all unwavering, "I promised my uncle I'd restore honor to the Fire Nation, and I will. The road ahead of us is challenging. A hundred years of fighting has left the world scarred and divided. But with the Avatar's help, we can get it back on the right path, and begin a new era, of love and peace."

Before the crowd could interrupt with more cheers, Zuko knelt, and the High Sage came forward with the official Fire Lord's golden headpiece. "All hail Fire Lord Zuko!" he declared.

He rose back up to stand tall above everyone else – standing on his own only for a moment before he ushered for Aang to come stand next to him. Katara could feel the happiness bursting from her, and she whooped and cheered along with everyone else, as Zuko and Aang waved to everyone. They both eventually scanned the crowd to individually make eye contact with her and she waved at them both in turn, unable to hide her giddy smile. Finally, _finally_ , everything was going to be okay; finally, she could truly know happiness.

-/\/\/\/\/\/\\-

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you so much for reading as always! And for all the nice comments, I'm so glad you're enjoying it!**

 **And, okay, okay, I'm sorry, I know it's beginning to look a little rough for our central pair, and it is going to get a little rougher for a while - but happy times are coming, I promise! Zuko and Mai did get back together 'off screen' in this chapter, just like in the show, and we'll see how Katara reacts to that in the next chapter.**

 **This chapter felt super long - it is the longest one yet, and I just want to say thanks again for sticking around. This whole thing is turning out to be a lot longer than I originally anticipated and I'm super grateful to everyone who's been reading! This one is 13,143 (holy wow) making the total come out to 97,912 words.**

 **Next chapter there's gonna be a big post-coronation party, before the gaang travels back to Ba Sing Se - I'm looking forward to it!**


	10. Two Parties

**In a New Light**

 **Chapter 10 – Two Parties**

-/\/\/\/\/\/\\-

General Iroh had only been back in Caldera City for a few hours and he had already managed to get the coronation off to a smooth start, schedule two parties, and arrange travel for the group's trip to Ba Sing Se the next morning. Katara was the first one to see him waving enthusiastically to them all off to the side of the stage just after Zuko and Aang had finished bowing to the crowd after Zuko's speech.

The group walked over to him happily. "It's great to see you got here so quickly General Iroh," Katara said.

"It is great to see you all as well," Iroh responded before his voice quickly shifted to a hushed tone, "now I've planned quite the evening for you all. I've invited everyone to a large gathering to celebrate Prince Zuko becoming Fire Lord, of course, but I've also arranged a smaller party for just you kids afterwards."

"Why are we whispering?" Sokka asked loudly, prompting Iroh to shush him quickly, as he looked back over his shoulder frantically.

"My nephew doesn't know of my plans yet, and if he finds out now he will surely find a way to back out of it. He's not big on parties," Iroh rushed.

Everyone nodded in understanding. "Why the second party just for us?" Suki asked.

"Oh, well, you kids are the true heroes of this war, and I thought you all deserved a nice relaxing evening with delicious food and drink, without all of the commotion of the official party, before we all have to fly back to Ba Sing Se tomorrow," he said with a contented smile.

"So, you're throwing us a tea party?" Toph asked incredulously.

Iroh was such an odd man. He could be so commanding and firm, but at the same time had so much compassion and thoughtfulness for others – in addition to his penchant for forcing fun and silliness on everyone. _No wonder he was always getting on Zuko's nerves,_ Katara thought fondly.

"Ooh, wow! That sounds so fun! It'll be just like a big sleepover, I can't wait!" Ty Lee chimed in, practically bouncing with excitement, while Iroh winced again from the increase in volume.

Every head turned toward her in surprise. They had forgotten that she was standing there with them.

"Uhh, you're coming too Pinky? You aren't exactly a war hero," Toph said, crossing her arms.

"Hey!" Ty Lee protested with a pout, "I helped make sure that Zuko, and this cutie," she waggled her fingers in Sokka's direction, "got off the Boiling Rock safely." She put her hands on her hips proudly.

"Ty lee, I thought you agreed, no more flirting with Sokka!" Suki said with an eye roll, while Sokka tried to hide a smug smile. Suki lightly flicked his shoulder.

Ty Lee shrugged in response. "I was just stating a fact."

"But yes, Miss Ty Lee has been invited as well," Iroh butted in quickly, "it will be good for all of you to spend some time together. What better way to help heal the Fire Nation than for former enemies to try and learn to respect each other?"

It made sense in theory, but Katara couldn't help but think that it just wasn't going to be that simple. Yes, Mai and Ty Lee had helped Sokka, Suki and Zuko, and even her father, escape from the prison – and that was part of the reason Katara hadn't immediately worried about Mai's intentions when she ran into her that morning outside of Zuko's room. But the girls had been friends with Azula, had followed her orders, and had chased them down. Katara doubted that one private tea party would be able to ease the tension between them all. And from the looks being passed between everyone, the rest of her friends agreed.

"Yes Mr. Iroh," Ty Lee nodded before she turned back to Suki, "and you're right. No more flirting with your boyfriend," she said pretending to tie a knot on her lips.

Suki nodded in appreciation, and looked like she was about to say something else, when Zuko and Aang appeared from a curtain behind Iroh that presumably led to the backstage area behind the coronation plaza.

"Nephew!" Iroh said, turning around to give Zuko a big hug, "I am so proud of you. What a brilliant speech."

"You helped me write it, Uncle…" Zuko replied sheepishly.

While Zuko was busy being suffocated by his uncle, everyone else pounced on Aang to wrap him up in a hug too, with Momo landing on his head with an affectionate chirrup.

"Oh man! The way you guys just stood up there, and the crowd was like 'woohooo!' and then you guys bowed and the crowd went 'yeahh!' That's the stuff of history right there," Sokka reenacted enthusiastically.

"Thanks, Sokka," Aang said, matching Zuko's sheepishness, "I wish you all could have been up there with us too though, it's not like Zuko and I did it all on our own – we would have been lost without all of you." He looked at Katara with a soft smile. She had told him earlier in the day what had happened with Azula during the comet, and despite Katara's repeated protests, Aang insisted on praising her every chance he got.

"Well, I'm sure there will be plenty of time for all of you to get the recognition you deserve," Iroh said, with a twinkle in his eye.

"Ooh, yeah, like at the party tonight! I'm sure everyone will want to celebrate you guys!" Ty Lee exclaimed, while everyone turned to give her a hard stare. They had somehow forgotten her presence again.

"Party!?" Zuko flared at his uncle, "Uncle, you promised there'd be no parties!"

"Oops… I forgot it was a secret," Ty Lee mumbled. Suki slapped her palm to her forehead and Katara rolled her eyes. They had _just_ been talking about it, how did it already slip her mind?

"I am sorry Nephew, but it was ancient tradition to welcome in new Fire Lord's with a bit of jubilation – a tradition that has been lost in the last one hundred years – and I thought now would be a good time to start it up again."

Zuko's eyes narrowed, unsure how truthful his uncle was being. But after a moment he let out a hard, reluctant sigh, "okay, Uncle."

"Zuko! This means you have to bring dancing back to the Fire Nation too!" Aang said excitedly, "it can be your first official decree!"

"Aang, I'm not sure _dancing_ is really the most important thing for me to do first," Zuko scoffed.

"Maybe not most _important_ , but it'll be the most _convenient_ considering we're going to have to dance tonight – what's a party without dancing!" Aang responded cheerily.

Zuko rolled his eyes, "I'll think about it."

Katara couldn't help the smile forming on her face. Aang's determination for fun, and Zuko's commitment to doing the right thing were going to be a great combination in helping restore balance to the world. She couldn't wait to help them get started.

\- \/\ -

The party started a few hours later in the Palace's grand ballroom. Just like everything else in the Fire Nation, the room was spacious, with high ceilings, large gold columns, and several red tapestries covering the walls. Katara and the rest of the group were first to arrive, and the room felt almost hauntingly empty. It was clear that it hadn't been used in many years – decades, she guessed. Iroh went to make sure the music and food preparations were on schedule, while Zuko instructed the palace staff to take down all the Fire Nation adorned tapestries.

He seemed to be getting impatient with one particular servant when Katara walked up to him.

"This is an international gathering meant to celebrate peace, and I don't think our foreign guests would like to be surrounded by Fire Nation insignias all night," Zuko huffed with frustration, "please have them removed."

The servant, and older man with a stern face, hardened his features. "Yes, your majesty. And where should they be stored in the meantime?" he asked with tight lips.

Zuko paused for a moment before answering, "I think the catacombs will be sufficient," he said smoothly.

The servant gave a curt nod and moved to take down the tapestries begrudgingly.

"Looks like being Fire Lord isn't going to be a walk in the park," Katara spoke up.

Zuko jumped slightly at the sound of her voice, but smiled softly when he turned to see her. "Definitely not, considering I still can't walk for long." She could tell he meant the comment to be a light joke, but there was some sadness in his voice. She wasn't sure if it was because he hadn't healed from his injury yet, or because he was still nervous about being a good Fire Lord.

"Your speech really was amazing," she said after a beat.

Zuko shrugged, "I was talking to people who most likely already supported me. There are so many other people, like that servant, who distrust me – or even worse, want the Fire Nation to stay the same."

Katara hummed and was about to respond when a loud surge of music came from the far end of the ballroom. They both turned their heads to see that the room had filled quite a bit in the last few minutes, and Iroh was gesturing to all the kids to come up to the stage where the musicians were playing.

She took one last look at the rest of the tapestries as they were being taken down, and couldn't help but feel like hiding them away wasn't necessarily the best solution.

Katara was the last one to step up onto the makeshift stage, and shuffled in quietly next to Toph and Sokka. Once she took her place, Iroh stepped forward and cleared his throat to get the attention of the rest of the party guests.

"Honored guests, we have already heard much celebration for our new Fire Lord and the Avatar, but I would like to take this moment to also acknowledge the efforts of these four teenagers," he gestured to Katara, Toph, Sokka and Suki, "without whom, we would surely still be at war!"

The crowd erupted into cheers and raised their glasses as Iroh introduced all of them individually. When Katara stepped forward she was overcome with emotion from the realization that all these people stood with them; stood with her. The crowd was a sea of colors from the different nations, but as she raised her hand to give a shy wave of thanks, she couldn't help but notice that there was decidedly less red than any other color before her. A small familiar stone formed in her stomach. There was still work to be done to maintain balance.

But then she caught sight of her father's face among the crowd, and the heaviness inside her vanished. He was looking up at her and her brother with more pride than she thought possible. Warmth swelled in her heart and she had to wipe a silent tear from her eye just before it fell.

Luckily, Iroh silenced the crowd back down before she could get any more emotional. He gave a brief thanks to everyone for coming, and invited them to enjoy the refreshments and music before he motioned for the kids to hop off the stage.

The musicians broke into a lively song immediately, and Katara was surprised at the amount of people who took to dancing rather quickly. There was so much joy in the air, she wanted to join them, but first she pulled Sokka along with her to find their father. They had been able to talk to him briefly before the coronation, but there was still so much she wanted to tell him.

She, Sokka, and Suki linked arms as they trudged through the throng of people, but they didn't make it very far before they were cut off by the firm voice of Madame Zhi.

"Girl!" She said as she strode over to them with an easy grace, "there are some things I would like to discuss with you."

Katara groaned internally, but agreed nonetheless, and followed the physician to one of the quieter areas of the ballroom.

Crossing her arms impatiently, Katara looked up at Madame Zhi expectantly, refusing to be the first one to speak.

"I inspected the Fire Lord's injury this morning," she stated bluntly.

Katara narrowed her eyes and waited a beat. "…and?" she prompted, annoyed.

Madame Zhi let out a resigned sigh, as if it pained her to admit her next words, "I have been most impressed with your Water Tribe healing methods these past few days, and General Iroh has brought it to my attention that you would have an interest in learning more traditional healing methods as well. I can offer you my services."

Katara's annoyance faded and her jaw fell slack – _was that a compliment_? "Er, I don't believe I've ever mentioned anything to General Iroh about medicine before," she said with surprise.

It was Madame Zhi's turn to have her calm exterior falter. "That old badger. Must have been another one of his 'clever' plots," she grumbled. She looked off to the side for a moment, as if going over the exact details of her earlier conversation, trying to figure out where exactly she had been lied to.

"Um, he wasn't wrong though," Katara said, interrupting the older woman's thoughts, "I am interested in learning more about the Fire Nation's medical practices."

Madame Zhi turned back to her as if she had momentarily forgotten she was in the middle of a conversation and she quickly regained her composure. "Oh. Well, good. That's that then, I will arrange for you to have a room set up in the palace and we can begin your training alongside Min when you return from Ba Sing Se in a few days."

The annoyance flared back up in Katara's chest. "Ugh, no, wait! Why is everything always so black and white with you!? Just because I have an interest in it doesn't mean I'm going to just drop everything else and move my life here!"

Madame Zhi barely flinched in response to Katara's outburst, "I will have you know, girl, that an apprenticeship with me is one of the most sought-after opportunities that the Fire Nation has to offer, and the fact that I've even considered allowing you, a foreign water peasant, to learn under me is highly unprecedented."

Katara's anger fizzled somewhat as she considered how much pride the high physician likely had put aside to offer her such a position. And she was pretty sure there had been another compliment hidden in there amongst the blatant insults. "Thank you for the offer, Madame," Katara kept her voice tightly controlled, "but, I have not yet decided where I would like to spend my time following the upcoming peace negotiations, and I'm not sure the Fire Nation will be the best place for me so soon after the war has ended… That being said, I do hope the offer remains open in case I change my mind," she finished with diplomacy.

A mixture of emotions flashed across Madame Zhi's eyes – offense, and possibly respect – before she recomposed herself once more. "Yes, Miss Katara, I'm sure the offer will still stand for some time," she gave a curt nod, her eyes still twinkling, before she turned on her heel and returned to the party.

Katara let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding, as she tried to process the conversation she just had. The offer to stay in the Fire Nation was surprisingly tempting, and she realized she actually liked it here. The climate suited her, she loved the heat, and the humidity allowed for new experimentation with her bending as well. The idea of spending time in the palace where she could keep in close company with the new Fire Lord wasn't unappealing either. But she quickly shoved that train of thought from her mind. The war may be over, but it was going to take a lot of work to rebuild the world, and the Fire Nation might not be ready to have a Water Tribe girl be a permanent resident of the capital city. She needed to keep her head on straight and remain practical… although, keeping the option on the table wouldn't be so bad either.

"Hey, Katara, you alright?" Aang's voice broke through her rambling thoughts.

"Oh, hey Aang," she turned to face him with a smile, "yeah, fine, I was just lost in thought I guess."

"Oh, well I was just wondering if you'd want to come and dance?"

She felt a twinge of guilt as she remembered the last time they had been at a party together, and she had spent the entire evening actively running away from him. Scanning his face now, he was looking up at her with his usual kind eyes, and an inkling of hope, but there were no demanding expectations. And she got that feeling again that something about him had changed – had he somehow gotten taller in the last week?

After the Spark Candle Festival, he had promised to listen to her feelings, and she had promised to treat him more fairly. He had held up his promise so far, and surely there'd be no harm in just dancing – but she had been in the middle of something before Madame Zhi sidetracked her.

"I'd be happy to dance Aang, but I've been trying to find my dad all night, so how about later?" she offered.

He nodded in understanding, and she was surprised to see that there wasn't a trace of disappointment on his face, "okay! I saw him talking to Sokka over by the buffet tables a minute ago." He pointed happily to the other side of the room.

Katara thanked him and set off in the direction he motioned to, chuckling slightly as she noticed him pull out a pair of marbles, likely to show off his favorite party trick, as he set off back toward the main party area. As she pushed her way back through the crowd for a second time, she was caught off guard by the sounds of Ty Lee's laughter mixed in with the laughter of several other girls. When she got closer to the sound she realized Ty Lee was joking around with five or six other Kyoshi Warriors. They were all whispering to each other and looked to be sharing secrets as they bobbed along to the music.

It had been a few weeks since Ty Lee had helped get Hakoda and Suki out of the Boiling Rock, and she had already made fast friends with the other warriors. The way they laughed and fell into each other with such glee was so pure that Katara didn't want to interrupt them. She was happy to see that Ty Lee had found a group of people willing to accept her, but there was something about their happiness that made Katara's heart ache. She saw a sense of belonging between them. Ty Lee had somewhere to go and people to be with once the celebrations were over with.

Katara quickly ducked away from the giggling girls before one of them could spot her and pull her in to their shenanigans, and she pushed forward to where she saw her dad looking at the various food options.

"Dad!" she called to him as she closed the rest of the distance between them.

Hakoda turned to look at her fondly while he awkwardly held two pork buns and a skewer of meat in his hand. "Hey sweetheart. Have you ever seen so many different foods that don't have any fish in them at all?" he joked as he held one of the pork buns out to her.

"Well I have been living in the Fire Nation for the past few months, so yeah," she said with a chuckle.

He laughed along with her, "right, of course. Have I told you already how proud I am of you?" he asked, his voice turning sincere. "My daughter! The one who took down the Mad Princess! I'm sure everyone back at the village can't wait to hear how you did it," he beamed.

The smile on Katara's face cracked a little, knowing her father well enough to know there was a request hidden in his words of praise, "you mean, you want me to tell them the story myself?"

"Of course! You and your brother are war heroes, they'll want to hear your stories directly from you," he put his free hand on her shoulder proudly.

His hand felt like a large weight pressing her down, and she shrugged herself out of it as politely as she could to sit down on one of the nearby stone benches that lined the ballroom. "Actually Dad, I think you might have to tell them for me…" Hakoda looked at her with concern, and joined her on the bench. "I don't think I'll be going back to the South Pole for a while…"

She couldn't look him in the eyes. She knew she should be excited to go back to her home after all this time away, but it just didn't feel like it was her home anymore. Gran-Gran and the faces of the other women of the tribe's faces filtered through her mind, and she did miss them. But when she thought of home, she thought of tents staked into the hard earth, sleeping bags full of dirt, and the light snores of her friends sleeping just feet away. The idea of going back to just sewing the pants of the tribe's warriors did not appeal to her at all.

"Katara," Hakoda said softly, and she slowly looked up to meet his gaze, and she saw only understanding in his eyes. "You've travelled the world, it's only natural that your home would feel a little small now. I do hope you'll come to visit sometime though," he said with a soft smile.

"Of course," she smiled back and leaned forward to give him a hug, which he returned with his familiar roughness, "thanks Dad."

"If you aren't coming back to the South Pole though, do you know where you'll go?" he asked carefully, with a knowing smile.

Katara released a harsh puff of air. "I… I don't really know. I've been so focused on just winning the war, I haven't been able to let myself think about what happens after. And now tonight, it's like everyone and everything here just keeps reminding me that I don't know where to go next," she let the words fall out of her mouth. She hadn't even noticed how much she'd been dwelling on the future until he asked her, but it was true, she had a lot of options in front of her, and she just didn't know which one she was supposed to take.

Hakoda nodded at her again, his arm still draped comfortingly around her shoulder, "your brother was telling me something similar just a few minutes ago, and I don't think he'll be coming back to the South Pole with me either. It sounded like he wanted to spend more time with Suki, but he didn't want to tell me outright," he laughed softly.

Katara sighed again, feeling a trickle of worry begin to flow through her, "yeah, but at least Sokka's got someone – it makes the decision so much easier for him. He's _supposed_ to be with Suki, I'm not _supposed_ to be anywhere now."

"Honey, you're right. You aren't _supposed_ to be anywhere… it's your choice to go where you _want_ to be," he looked at her seriously, "and I know you'll do what's right for you."

She avoided his gaze again, "yeah, maybe if I knew what I wanted…" she mumbled so her father wouldn't quite hear her. The panic and worry began to rise some more as her thoughts trailed further and further down the path of the unknown.

"…Katara, did you hear me?" her father's voice finally registered in her mind.

"Oh, sorry, what?"

"I was just asking what your friends will be doing now – I thought that might help you decide. I know you've become close with Zuko since I last saw you…" he trailed off and gave her an uncomfortably poignant look.

Cursing herself as her cheeks heated involuntarily, she spoke quickly to hope he wouldn't notice the flush on her face, "er, well, yes, we've becomes friends I guess. And his head physician did just invite me to stay and learn from her, and his wound will need healing for another few days or so at least – but it could be better by the time the peace conference is over in Ba Sing Se, so I might not need to come back after all – and then it wouldn't really be appropriate for me to be staying here, Water Tribe and all, so soon after the war." Her father stared at her for a moment, his eyes narrowed suspiciously. _Shit, what is wrong with me? That was far from calm and collected,_ she had to catch her breath for a moment from speaking so fast.

"You seem to have given this a good amount of thought," Hakoda said, still eyeing her cautiously.

"Actually, I only thought about all of that just now," she replied honestly.

"Hm. Well, if you two have in fact become good friends, then I'm sure he would make sure there would be no issue – oh, he's coming this way now, why don't we go ahead and ask him," he said, lifting his head toward the dance floor.

Katara groaned at her father's instincts to always immediately solve all her problems, disregarding her desire to handle situations tactfully. Looking up to follow his eyes, she saw that he was right, and Zuko was heading right toward them, with that intense look of focus in his eyes that Katara now associated with a sense of comfort. She was about to lift her hand to say hello, when his lips upturned slightly, and she realized his gaze wasn't focused on her this time, and that he hadn't actually seen the two of them sitting on the bench at all. His eyes were set on something just past her to her left.

Turning behind her in confusion, she saw an older couple with a familiar looking baby standing in the entrance way of the ballroom. Zuko approached them and as he held out his hand somewhat shakily, Katara realized he was nervous. The man returned Zuko's handshake hesitantly, while the woman merely nodded to acknowledge his presence while she kept her hands firmly holding her young son on her hip. Just as Katara realized where she had seen the child before, Mai walked past the couple to turn and stand by Zuko's side.

She didn't know how, but Katara had seemingly forgotten that Mai showed up this morning. And that she had basically thrown Mai into Zuko's bedroom. She had been so preoccupied with shoving that awful heavy twisting feeling out of her stomach, that she had suppressed the entire interaction from her mind all day. But she had spoken to Mai, and now Mai was standing with Zuko right in front of her, speaking to who Katara presumed to be Mai's parents.

And then Mai looped her arm around Zuko's waist and gave her parents a hard stare. She must have said something too, because her mouth was moving and her parents already stern faces were beginning to frown even further, but Katara's ears were ringing so loud she couldn't make out what they were saying. Her blood rushed loudly through her head as she shifted her eyes back to Zuko and saw him reciprocate Mai's gesture and sling his arm sheepishly around her shoulders. The twisting in Katara's stomach was back tenfold, it made her mouth dry, her eyes sting and her vision blur. She had to get out.

Getting clumsily to her feet, she tried to mumble an excuse to her father about needing some air, but she was pretty sure it just came out as a jumbled mess. She suddenly felt very hot and was having trouble focusing on her steps as she did her best to stumble around where Zuko and Mai were talking. But her efforts to sneak past them unseen were unsuccessful, as she accidentally bumped into a server carrying a tray of spicy pork buns, and in trying to correct her balance she ran right into Zuko's back, knocking his arm off Mai's shoulder.

Zuko spun around angrily until he saw who it was, and his features softened, "Katara, you alright?" he asked concerned.

She barely heard him, the torrent of blood rushing by her ears still going strong, but she nodded furiously, "just – hot – need – outside." She couldn't meet his eyes, and saw Mai's brows were furrowed at her in what could have been either contempt or just confusion. Terrified that if she didn't move now, she'd just stand there like a gaping, panting idiot for the rest of the night, Katara made a clumsy gesture to the nearby door to one of the balconies, and rushed away from the couple.

Bursting out the door, she immediately felt better when the cool air flushed over her cheeks and swept her hair off her neck. She walked forward and gripped her fingers around the golden banister at the edge of the balcony, squeezing her eyes shut and willing her breaths to adopt a more reasonable rhythm. _In through the nose. Out through the mouth. In and then out._

What the hell had just happened? Her body had never reacted like that before when she hadn't been in immediate danger, and it wasn't like she hadn't realized this would be a possibility, she was the one who encouraged Mai to go see him just hours ago – why did it hurt so much to see them together?

"Katara?" she flinched as the familiar crackle of his voice formed around her name, and she took in another deep breath to steel herself, "are you alright?" he asked for the second time.

"Mhmm!" she nodded furiously and did her best to keep her tone cheery, but she didn't risk turning around to see his face. Even imagining his features creased with concern, or his golden eyes piercing through her was too much for her to handle, so she did her best to shut herself down. "I'm fine, I just, uh, I had too many of those spicy pork buns, and I just needed some air."

"Okay…" he said, an air of disbelief in his tone. She felt his body heat come closer to her, and she imagined him stretching his arm out to place a hand on her shoulder, but the touch never came, and she forced herself not to feel the sting of the ghost of a gesture. "Er, I could go get you some water?" he said cautiously.

"No! That's okay, I just need some fresh air for a bit," she said, essentially repeating herself, unable to come up with a more detailed excuse. As much as it hurt not to turn around and look at him, it hurt her more to think about facing him, so she focused on a spot on the ground of the coronation plaza far below her and didn't dare move.

"Okay, er, well, I've got to get back to Mai's parents, they don't like to be kept waiting…but I'll see you later on, tonight right?" His body heat felt even closer now, but she remained still, and just give a quick nod in response. The moment seemed to stretch on forever until suddenly his heat was gone entirely, the cool wind of early evening replacing him like a slap.

As soon as she was sure he was gone, she crumbled. With her hands still gripping the railing tightly, her legs curled up beneath her and she sank with a dull thud. Her legs flopped through the slats of the banister, to dangle off the edge, and she finally let her hands fall to her lap, and pressed her forehead into the cool metal of the railing. A sob wracked through her body before she could even stop to think about why, and she gave in. She stopped trying to think, and just let herself feel. Her shoulders heaved and tears streaked down to drip off her face to prickle her fingers and palms.

Minutes, or hours later, she wasn't sure, tears were still flowing steadily down her cheeks, but her body was no longer shaking with emotion, when she felt another presence come out to join her on the balcony. She stiffened once more, afraid he had caught her in such a vulnerable moment, but when the familiar voice spoke her name, she almost smiled with relief.

"Can I sit with you?" Sokka asked, but he started to sit down without waiting for her response, placing his crutches against the railing and clumsily lowering himself to mimic her pose to let his good leg dangle off the balcony floor as well.

She just sat there, glad for his presence, but unsure exactly what to say. Sokka rarely saw her this emotional, and she wasn't sure if he'd try and joke it off.

"I saw Zuko with Mai and her parents," Sokka prompted carefully after a few moments of silence, testing her reaction.

Katara let out a groan that unfortunately sounded more like a whimper. She nodded, her head still pressed against the railing support. "He… he looked at her, looked at her li-like…" she trailed off, embarrassed by how shaky her voice sounded and feeling too silly to continue.

"He looked at her…" Sokka repeated flatly, confused annoyance about her vagueness threatening to creep into his voice.

She sighed shakily, "the _way_ he looked at her was… it was just like how he… he always – and I thought it was just, I thought it was just for m – but then he looked at her, and it means that it meant nothing…" She shook her head, knowing she wasn't making enough sense, and her words were getting away from her.

Sokka turned his head to look over her curiously, and from the corner of her eye she thought she saw understanding etched across his face. "You love him," he stated matter-of-factly.

That knocked her out of her daze. Whipping her head to gape at him, she studied him for a moment to conclude that he wasn't making a joke. "What? I don't love him – I can't, we've never, he – I – that's, no, that's too much," she protested.

"Okay, maybe not. But you like him," Sokka backtracked, softening his tone.

"But I tried so hard not to!" she groaned, but immediately felt lighter as the truth of her confession fell off her lips. "I just, I just feel so _stupid_ ," she admitted.

Sokka shrugged, "you shouldn't. I know I teased you guys a lot, but I thought it was all in good fun. I thought you two really did like each other, and it was just a matter of time. I'm pretty surprised about this too. In fact, I might go hit him upside the head for leading you on."

Katara shook her head again, "no, don't. That's not really even what I mean. It's not just that, I th-thought that having feelings meant I cared less about the war… that I cared less about mom – that if I allowed myself to feel something for someone else instead of fighting the war, that I would be disrespecting her somehow…" she placed her fingers on the pendant around her neck absently. "And so, I, I started to shut myself off from things, and I think I put this distance between us, I don't know… I thought if I just fought as hard as I could, that after the war everything else would fall into place, and now," her voice started to shake again, and she felt tears reline her eyes, "now it's over, and even though we've won, I feel so lost… I thought we were all going to rebuild the world together but that isn't going to happen is it?" Her voice grew quiet, "you have Suki, Zuko has Mai, Dad can finally go back to the tribe, and even Ty Lee has the Kyoshi Warriors… I just don't _fit_ anywhere anymore…"

Sokka scooted as close to her as he could with the railing still between his legs, and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, pulled her close, and prompted her to lean her head on her shoulder. "Katara, just because you don't know what happens next, doesn't mean you don't belong," he was steady and firm now, using his big brother voice, that she only heard in very rare sincere moments, "you helped end this war, and I know you want to help rebuild the world – hell, you're a founding member of Team Avatar for fuck's sake, you can do anything you want now, and it's okay to take some time to figure out what that is."

Her breathing evened out as he rubbed his hand up and down her arm comfortingly as she thought over what he said. She _was_ being silly, but not in the way she thought, and he helped her put it into perspective. There was no impending doom looming over them anymore – she didn't have to have all the answers or even a plan right now, she was free to choose and experiment. This is what she had been hoping for so dearly when she had that talk with Zuko after the play on Ember Island, and now it was right here in front of her. There was still a small sting that she wouldn't be getting lost with him as she had mused that night – but for the first time tonight, she felt excited about where she could go next; she was excited to trust her instincts on more than just the battlefield.

They sat together like that while the sun set over the coronation plaza in front of them, moonlight beginning to shine to the signal the end of the first day without war. The moon hung bright above them, reflecting the blue of their clothes onto the red of the building, and Katara couldn't help but wonder if Sokka was thinking of Yue as the sky began to twinkle with stars, and washed over the world in a new light of peace and possibilities.

The intense raw emotion from earlier left her and was replaced with an odd cathartic sense of calm. The sky changed above them, and party continued behind them. She wondered absently whether or not Sokka was eager to get back to Suki, but if he was he never made any motions to suggest so. She was glad for his company, and glad that he hadn't pressed any further about Zuko. Admitting her feelings out loud had offered some relief, but she still hadn't wrapped her head around exactly how or why it had happened, and she certainly had no idea how she was going to deal with seeing him with Mai now that she was being honest with herself. He had seemed happy enough next to her from the brief moment Katara witnessed, and while it would be difficult, Katara knew it would be better for everyone if did her best to be happy for him.

The door behind them opened and she was pulled from her post-breakdown daze to turn and see who had joined them on the balcony. Feeling the dried tears crusted on her cheeks, she wiped them away as casually as she could to greet Aang with a small wave.

"There you guys are! Suki has been looking everywhere for you Sokka – Ty Lee has been following your dad around all night and Suki can't her to stop," he said, sounding exasperated.

" _Eew_!" Sokka spluttered, getting slowly to his feet.

Katara followed, and gave him a subtle nod to let him know she'd be okay, before he hobbled quickly back into the still crowded ballroom.

Aang turned to Katara now, and his brow lowered as he looked over her face. She avoided his gaze, but she could feel how puffy her eyes were and knew she wasn't fooling him. But she'd be damned if she was going to tell Aang of all people what had caused her current emotional state.

He opened his mouth as if he was going to say something, but closed it again quickly before his face changed back to its usual pleasant smile, "would you still be up for that dance?"

Caught off guard, she surprised herself and had to fight back a laugh; he thought fun could fix anything. And maybe this time he was right. For the second time that night, she looked at him properly, and still saw no trace of desperation or the fidgety nervousness he had shown that night he kissed her during the play, and she knew that he truly only wanted to cheer her up.

She had told him that the war was the reason she couldn't return his feelings, and it had been true. But the war was over, she didn't know exactly what she felt for him, and she would never know if she didn't let herself be open to the possibility.

Realizing he was still waiting for her to respond, she cursed herself for already overthinking again. _Less thinking, more doing – follow your instincts_ , she told herself firmly. With a deep breath, she nodded, "that sounds great."

His smile widened and lit up his eyes. She found herself smiling back. They walked back into the ballroom together, and took bending stances across from each other in the middle of the dance floor. They moved to the fast-paced music, dancing, twirling and flipping around each other. Occasionally he would bend the air around her slightly to give her more height and suspension, and she found herself laughing, really, truly laughing. Looking over at him, she saw that he was too, and she found that she had missed the easy, innocent fun of hanging around him.

After going like that for a few songs, Katara was panting, and she and Aang toned down their movements to merely bob along easily to the rhythm. Catching her breath, she took the opportunity to look around her, and saw that most of the attendees were still dancing. Iroh had managed to convince Madame Zhi to dance, albeit reluctantly. She was clutched onto the former General's shoulders while he twirled her around with glee, and Katara saw a rare uninhibited smile cross the Madame's lips.

Scanning around some more, she saw Toph had stolen the Duke's helmet and was avoiding him with ease as he chased her through the crowd. Pipsqueak wasn't far behind, trying halfheartedly to scoop them both up in his arms.

Then she heard Ty Lee's voice pierce through the crowd, "Ow! Suki, _stop!_ I wasn't going to _do_ anything, I just wanted to look at him up close!"

Katara turned to see Suki pulling Ty Lee by her ear away from a bewildered looking Hakoda, while Sokka trailed behind slowly, with a clear look of disgust on his face.

"No, I won't let go! You're making the rest of the warriors look bad!" Suki scolded, dragging Ty Lee farther from the dance floor.

"It was their idea!" Ty Lee protested, "they dared me to!"

This caused Suki to pause, and give the warriors a hard glare, to which they all just giggled smugly. Katara wondered absently if this was a nice break from their usual intense training, or if they got up to these types of shenanigans regularly.

Turning back to Aang, she saw that he had been watching the incident too. "How bad was she?" Katara asked, knowing Aang had seen some of Ty Lee's antics earlier.

"Not too bad actually," he laughed, "mostly she just followed him around and tried to offer him food and tell him how soothing his aura was – and it looked like she tried to sniff him a few times, which was the weirdest part."

Tame as it sounded, Katara still shivered at the thought of the young girl flirting with her father. She was about to say such to Aang, when she saw a glint of Zuko's golden headpiece across the room, in her peripheral vision. Zuko and Mai seemed to be arguing animatedly, while pointing at the bare walls around the ballroom. Katara was too far away to make out what they were saying, but Zuko looked exasperated, while Mai adopted a resolute stance of folded arms and narrow eyes. After a moment Zuko seemed to give up, and sat down on a nearby bench, clutching at his stomach.

Remembering she hadn't given him a healing session since the morning, and ignoring Aang's hard stare, Katara moved to help Zuko, worried that he'd been standing too long with his wound. But before she could leave the dance floor, Iroh had taken to the stage again. The crowd pushed in around her, and she lost sight of Zuko and Mai behind one of the large columns, and she reluctantly turned her attention to the former general.

"Honored guests," Iroh started, giving the crowd an opportunity to quiet down before he continued, "I am thankful for your presence tonight, and am hopeful that everyone's continued cooperation will make for more peaceful times to come. But it is time for us all to rest, and prepare for what is to come. I have arranged travel for everyone back to their respective homes, or to Ba Sing Se for those of us who will be participating in the peace conference. Please see any of the servants on the way out for your details."

There was a murmur of disappointment from the party guests that the night was ending already, but everyone heeded Iroh's request nonetheless.

As the guests filtered out of the room, Iroh gathered up the war heroes next to the stage. Katara stood between Sokka and Toph, offering Sokka some support in case he got tired of leaning on his crutches, while Suki stood on his other side, next to Aang and then Iroh, who had Zuko, Mai and Ty Lee off to his other side.

"I spoke with the Avatar earlier," he gestured to Aang who nodded happily in confirmation, "and we've arranged for half of you to fly to Ba Sing Se in one of the still intact airships, while the rest will fly with Aang on his bison."

Suki nodded, "I've already spoken to Iroh and Zuko about it, but the rest of the warriors and I have decided to be personal guard for the Palace until more of the servants and staff here can be trusted, so Ty Lee and I will be flying on the airship."

Iroh nodded, and was about to add something when Mai cut in flatly, "I'll be flying with Zuko too."

Zuko turned to her with a look of surprise assessing whether she was still angry with him, but she averted her gaze and his face fell back into irritation. Tension seeped into the air around the group. The churning in Katara's stomach grew, but she did her best to ignore it and focus on the discussion, still avoiding looking directly at Zuko's face.

She cleared her throat to break the awkward silence, "I should go on the airship too. It's a long journey, and Zuko's wound will still need some healing on the trip." She quickly risked a glance in his direction, and regretted it immediately. He had looked at her with a gratitude that somehow hurt more than seeing him with Mai at all. This was going to be hard.

"Yes, I had assumed you would say so Miss Katara. Your arrangements on board have all been made, and everyone else will travel with the Avatar." Everyone nodded in understanding, and Iroh moved on to a more cheerful topic. "Well, now that that's settled, we can move forward to the rest of tonight's activities."

Zuko groaned, "what exactly does that mean Uncle? You just said we should all be resting."

"I did indeed, but that was just an excuse so that you kids could get some alone time, and maybe ease some tensions," another awkward silence fell over the group, and it wasn't lost on Katara that the group had huddled around Iroh in a way that separated Ty Lee and Mai from the rest of them. "So… If you'll all follow me, I think you'll all be pleased with you sleeping arrangements for the night."

"Ooh, so it _is_ a sleepover!" Ty Lee exclaimed. Everyone else rolled their eyes, but Katara had to admire the girl's comfortability around them when there was such an obvious animosity running through the air.

Zuko groaned again, and the group followed Iroh down a nearby hallway to a secluded room upstairs.

It was another spacious room with high ceilings, but only about a quarter of the size of the ballroom, giving it a cozier feel. The far wall had floor to ceiling windows that cast moonlight over everything else inside, illuminating a circle of cushions in the center of the room. There were tables lined up on one side of the room, and some blankets piled neatly on top of one, while the other tables were adorned with trays of desserts and teapots. It looked like Ty Lee's enthusiasm about it being a sleepover hadn't been misplaced after all.

"Ooh, wow! It's beautiful!" Ty Lee exclaimed, almost as if on cue.

"Are those egg custard tarts!?" Aang said, springing over to the table of treats.

Zuko and Mai glanced around the room and simultaneously let out sighs of indifference, that Katara found extremely unnerving. Determined to overcome the mixture of anger and hurt that was coursing through her once more, she put on a smile and complimented Iroh on his styling.

"Well, I'm glad you all like it," he said with a hearty laugh. "I'll leave you all to it then," and he took his leave relatively abruptly.

Sokka and Suki immediately went over to the cushions so that he could relax his leg. Toph joined Aang at the dessert table, curious to try the various tarts Aang was so excited about, and Zuko offered to make everyone tea. Unsure what else to do, Katara took a seat next to Suki on the cushion closest to the windows.

Mai was still standing by the door looking uncomfortable in everyone else's presence, until Ty Lee grabbed her arm. "Come _on_ , Mai! No more sour faces! We finally get to have fun!"

"I don't want to participate in your girly sleepover, Ty Lee," Mai said with disinterest, but she allowed Ty Lee to lead her to the closest set of cushions anyway, to sit across the circle from where Katara was.

"Hey. I just wanna make it clear, that any sleepover I'm at will be anything but girly," Sokka said jokingly. Suki scoffed and rolled her eyes, while Mai just stared at him blankly.

"What exactly do people do at sleepovers anyway?" Toph asked, stuffing a small cake into her mouth as she plopped down on one of the cushions nearest the line of tables.

Aang joined the circle next to sit in the empty spot between Katara and Toph, "well, when the monks would let us having bonding nights we would all end up telling stories or playing pranks – it was fun!"

"Oh, we could swap secrets!" Ty Lee said with a clap.

"Boring," Mai deadpanned, and the room went silent again.

"Well… I agree," Sokka said, causing Mai's eyebrow to quirk up ever so slightly, in what Katara guessed was surprise, "just secrets _is_ kind of boring – we need to jazz it up a bit." He tapped his chin in contemplation for a moment, "how about, we each take turns asking each other anything we want, but if the person decides not to answer, we can pick a punishment or something for them."

Suki rolled her eyes again, "Sokka, that's basically just truth or dare."

"What's truth or dare?" Zuko asked skeptically, as he placed a tray of teacups in the center of the circle for everyone to take as they liked, before he went to sit on the last cushion between Mai and Toph.

Suki laughed, but stopped as soon as she realized she was the only one, and everyone else was giving her strange looks, "really, none of you have heard of it?"

"Well, I have," Ty Lee said, "but only because the other warriors taught me while we were imprisoned together. I thought it was some Earth Kingdom thing you guys made up," she shrugged, "but it's a lot of fun! We should play!"

"I'm in!" Toph said, rubbing her fist in her hand, "getting more dirt on you all, and embarrassing punishments if you refuse? Sounds like a win-win," she said with a devilish smirk.

"I guess it does seem like a good way for us to get to know you two better," Katara mused somewhat begrudgingly, thinking about Iroh's earlier suggestion about peace between them all as practice for peace between the nations.

"Fine," Mai resigned with a sigh. Zuko scooted a little closer, and moved to rest his hand behind her on the floor, but she flinched away from him ever so slightly, causing him to quickly return his hand to his lap with an irritated frown.

Somehow seeing Zuko and Mai fighting made Katara's eyes burn even more than when the two of them were sharing shy smiles between the glances of Mai's parents. She balled her hands into fists and pressed her fingernails firmly into her palms to stop herself from expressing any kind of feeling – hyper aware that Toph was sitting only a few feet from her, and likely ready to call her out at any moment.

Breaking the tension that was once again buzzing through the air, Sokka spoke up, "okay, well I want to go first. I just ask anyone anything I want?" he turned to Suki for confirmation.

"Yep," Suki replied, crawling to the center of their circle to quickly grab a cup of tea for Sokka and herself, "and then whoever you asked will continue by asking someone else of their choosing."

Sokka thanked her with a nod, and took a sip, before turning to face Ty Lee on his left. "What exactly were you trying to do with my father earlier this evening!?" he asked with a bold accusatory tone.

Ty Lee scooched back away from him, while a smile threatened to spark on Sokka's otherwise intimidating expression. Katara chuckled to herself, knowing only her and her friends had likely caught on to this being one of Sokka's typical harmless, but dramatic outbursts.

"The other warriors dared me to follow him around and try to get to know things about him – mostly they wanted to know if the rumors about him smelling like sea salt and redwood trees were true," she squeaked out.

"And were they?" Sokka pressured, furrowing his brow further.

Ty Lee took a quick glance around the room to take in everyone's amused faces, catching on to his joking tone, and turned back to Sokka with a smirk of her own, "well, that seems to be two questions, and against the rules. But I'll answer anyway because you seem so curious." Her eyes twinkled, and she sat back up straight, "I don't know what redwood trees are, but he definitely smelled _very_ manly," she said, clearly trying to unnerve Sokka by praising his father.

Sokka squinted at her a moment longer before sitting back up to his full height, and dropping his intense stare, "yep, that sounds like Dad. And I guess if you weren't really trying to flirt with him, then no harm done," he shrugged.

"No way," Ty Lee said, shaking her head, and scrunching up her face, "too old for me, it was just for fun." She paused for a moment, "okay, so my turn? Yay! Okay… Suki, I think I'll ask you," she turned to face her fellow warrior, with a look of mischief.

"Here we go," Suki mumbled.

"How often do you and Sokka, ya know…" she trailed off to make an odd gesture with her hands, and then imitated fireworks going off, complete with sounds effects.

Suki and Mai both let out resigned sighs, as if expecting a question like this from Ty Lee.

"Ugh! I don't want to know about this," Aang groaned, his face contorted in disgust.

"Me either!" Katara agreed vehemently, "I definitely don't need these kinds of details."

Toph immediately burst into laughter, "oh man, I think I'm going to like having your around, Pinky."

"Thank you," Ty Lee responded cheerfully, but then turned back to Suki expectantly, "we're waiting."

Suki looked unaffected for the most part, "I'm not answering," she crossed her arms. "Everyone here already knows more about our sex life than I'd like, thanks to Toph," she shot her a pointed glare, "so I'll be keeping any details to myself thank you very much."

Ty Lee looked at her in awe, "wow, Suki, you're so strong in your decisions. I really admire that about you! But… now this means I get to pick a punishment for you right?"

Suki sighed, "yeah I guess it does. Do you worst Ty Lee."

"Hmm," Ty Lee tapped her chin thoughtfully, "Since you don't want to talk, we should shut your mouth! Katara, why don't you freeze Suki to that wall over there, and make sure her mouth is covered too!" Ty Lee giggled as if she had come up with her most brilliant plan.

"That's not fair!" Suki retorted, "I still want to play the game!"

"Well then, I wanna hear all about how long Sokka – "

"Fine!" Suki resigned, while Sokka blushed furiously.

"Sorry, Suki," Katara said, standing to lead Suki over to the wall directly behind her, and quickly froze her into place, about a foot off the ground. "I didn't make the ice very cold, so it'll probably melt quickly enough for you to join us again soon," she whispered so that only Suki could hear her.

She nodded back gratefully, against the ice Katara had frozen the ice over the bottom of her face as per Ty Lee's instructions.

"Okay, since Suki's out, I'm gonna take her turn!" Toph said enthusiastically, as Katara took her seat back in the circle. "…Katara," she prompted.

"…Yes?" Katara asked apprehensively, unsure how ruthless Toph was going to be.

"You've been quiet all night, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who wants to know, so – why were you crying out on the balcony earlier?" she asked with a maniacal cackle.

It was like all the air was sucked out of the room, and she felt everyone's eyes on hers. Sokka gave her a look of sympathy, Ty Lee just looked intrigued, while Mai seemed to be feigning indifference, while still listening intently. Zuko and Aang's faces bothered her the most, the former giving her a look of genuine concern and confusion, while the latter had a look of knowing that made her even angrier. Toph continued to look at her expectantly.

"I wasn't _crying_ …" she answered carefully, trying to keep her heart in steady rhythm.

"Yes, you _were_ ," Toph pressed, "you know I always know when you lie, Sugar Queen."

"I guess my eyes may have gotten a little _watery_ ," Katara continued, clipped but determined, "but it was just because I ate too many spicy pork buns."

But Toph just pressed harder. "You're still lying," she said in a sing song voice, clearly enjoying Katara's misery.

"Lay off it Toph! I don't want to talk about it!" Katara snapped back harshly, her chest heaving as she struggled to keep her breaths calm. Everyone in the room was still staring at her, but now she refused to meet their eyes – she didn't want to see the pity she was sure they held.

Oblivious to the tension around her, Toph continued, "then, you have to lick my foot," she smirked.

Momentarily knocked out of her anger, Katara stared back at her, "excuse me?"

"That's your punishment for not talking – you have to lick the bottom of my foot."

"B-but, you hate anything touching your feet," Katara faltered.

"True, but I'm sure you'll hate it more than I will," Toph shrugged, "it's either that, or you tell us why all the waterworks."

Katara glared at her again, before she turned to Sokka, silently asking him for support. He was the only one who actually knew what was going on with her, but the sympathy he had flashed her a moment ago faded quickly once everyone else's eyes were on him, and he just shrugged apathetically, "rules are rules, sis. Lick, or tell."

As Katara kept her glare trained on Sokka while she tried to psyche herself up for the nasty taste of Toph's rarely washed feet, a soft chuckle filtered through the circle, and everyone looked up in surprise to see that it had come from Mai. She had her hand raised above her mouth to cover her smile, but her shoulders were still bouncing – she was definitely laughing, and Zuko was looking at her with a soft fondness, that Katara willed herself to forget. But Mai immediately stopped once she saw everyone look at her, and her face returned to its normal stony appearance.

"'Lick, or tell,'" Mai repeated with a shrug, "it was funny."

"Oh yeah! I got Mai to laugh!? I am _good_!" Sokka whooped, and everyone else in the circle laughed along with him.

After a moment, Toph cleared her throat, and Katara's half smile fell as the group's attention fell back to her. "My toes are waiting, Sweetness," Toph smirked again.

With a huge reluctant sigh Katara crawled over to where Toph was sitting, plugged her nose, and quickly licked Toph's foot from heel to toe. Toph squirmed a bit, but Katara reacted much more harshly, spitting and spluttering immediately, and then diving for a cup of tea in the middle of the circle.

"Eugh, I can't believe you actually did it," Aang said with an odd sense of awe.

Katara continued to pinch her nose while she gulped down her tea, "tasted like grass and mud. Pretty sure there were remains of a dead bug on there too." She gagged while the rest of the group let out a shudder, and Toph just cackled.

Taking a moment to compose herself, Katara sits herself back up straight, determined to move forward and put that whole interaction behind her.

"Okay, so, my turn," she said, thoughtfully looking around the group, eager to get the attention off herself. As her eyes passed over Mai and Ty Lee, Iroh's voice from earlier rang in her head again. It would be best for everyone if they could all get along, she reasoned, once again pushing aside those squeezing feelings in her stomach when she saw Zuko looking at Mai. Besides, Katara had been wondering about how exactly they had come to change sides. "Mai," she looked at the Fire Nation girl, who returned her gaze with mild curiosity, "I've been wondering for a while, how exactly did you guys stop Azula to help Zuko, my brother and Suki escape from the Boiling Rock?"

Mai's eyes narrowed slightly, but the corner of her mouth upturned ever so slightly, and Katara swore for the briefest moment she saw the shadow of a blush on the girl's cheek.

But, Ty Lee cut in before Mai could answer, "ooh! It's such a _cute_ story, isn't it, Mai!?"

"Ty Lee," Mai's voice was a warning, the trace of happiness from a moment ago now gone.

"Come on, Mai, don't be such a spoil sport!" Ty Lee continued on easily, "if you don't want to tell it I will - "

"Ty _Lee_ ," Mai repeated, through gritted teeth, but if Ty Lee heard her, she ignored it, as she just kept talking, and Katara was beginning to think she made a mistake in asking her question.

" – and then Azula was all 'why would you do it, you know the consequences,' and then, and then, Mai was all," Ty Lee flattened out her tone to imitate Mai's voice, "'you miscalculated, I love Zuko, more than I fear you.'"

Ty Lee continued regaling the tale with her signature enthusiasm, but Katara stopped listening, she couldn't take her eyes off Zuko's reaction. His head whipped to turn toward Mai, his mouth hanging open in shock, and his eyes soft, like she was the only thing in the whole world.

"Stop looking at me like that," Mai snapped, looking straight ahead to avoid his gaze, "I'm still mad at you."

"But, but, you really said that?" Zuko asked, ignoring Mai's current coldness, "you really love me?"

"- Hey!? Is anyone still listening to my story!?" Ty Lee said, exasperated, but no one answered her, they were all listening intently to Zuko and Mai's discussion.

Ignoring Ty Lee, Mai turned to Zuko sharply, "how long have you been attracted to Katara?"

There was a sharp intake of air off to Katara's left, she guessed from Sokka, and and 'oooh' of delight from Toph, while Katara herself went rigid. Fearing if she moved that her whole world would really come crumbling down.

"I – I, uh, what?" Zuko faltered from the sudden accusation, sparing a glance over to Katara, who could only gape back at him, feeling utterly helpless and embarrassed.

"It's my turn now, and I want to know," she continued coolly, her glare getting harsher, "how long have you been attracted to her?"

The affection in his features had now completely disappeared as he tightened his jaw and blew a harsh breath out of his nose. He leaned toward her and whispered something forcefully that Katara couldn't make out.

Mai leaned away from him immediately, "stop making excuses and answer the question Zuko! You're different – you've been acting different all day, and I want to know why!" she demanded. "I'm not as stupid as you think I am, I know something's going on with you two!"

Zuko rose to his feet to tower over her in rage, "I thought this was just about me taking down the tapestries tonight – but this is the real reason you've been mad at me all night, isn't it!? Because you saw her leaving my room this morning!? You said yourself that she practically ushered you inside, why would she do that if there was something going on!?"

Even though no one was looking at her anymore, Katara couldn't help but feel invisible eyes piercing her from all directions as Mai and Zuko spoke bluntly about her while she was right there.

Mai continued to stare at him, his anger seemingly unaffecting her stature, "maybe she felt guilty – I don't know, all I know is that you haven't answered the question Zuko."

He clenched his fists and let out an animalistic sounding growl, "nothing has happened! It's, _nothing_!" he bellowed, his breathing rough and ragged.

Silence coated the room once more as Mai narrows her eyes even further, and Katara felt raw and exposed.

Toph let out a faint whisper, "he's lying." The words slipped out of her mouth in shock, as if she hadn't meant for them to actually be said, but now there they were, hanging above them all, waiting to be responded to.

" _Toph!_ " Katara scolded, outraged by her sheer audacity tonight. It was one thing for Toph to make fun of her when she was emotional – she almost expected that from her friend at this point – but this was different. It was as if she just spilled several of other people's secrets all at once, when it wasn't her place to share them.

"Fuck this," Zuko practically spat the words as he turned on his feet to march to the door behind him, but as he approached the door frame he stumbled, clutching his stomach, and he had to grab on to the wall to support himself with a grunt.

Taking only a moment to decide, Katara stood – knowing that how it would look in the moment, and knowing she would have some explaining to do to Mai and probably Aang, and maybe even Toph before the night was over – but Zuko was in pain, and she was the only one who could heal him. She _wanted_ to heal him, and the rest of it didn't matter right now.

The stares of her friends tore through her as she crossed the circle to meet him at the door and lightly put her hand on his shoulder. "You haven't had a healing session since this morning, it's okay," she kept her voice soft and low.

"Don't touch me!" he yelled back at her, swatting her hand away, "you're only going to make it worse!"

"You need help, I'm going to help you," she said, adopting a harsher tone, "we'll deal with the rest later." She pushed him through the doorframe without waiting for a response, and slammed the door behind them, vaguely aware of the sound of Suki's feet finally thudding to the ground as her frozen bonds had finally melted.

The hall was eerily quiet, with only the sounds of their angry breaths to fill the space. They both just stood there a moment, neither willing to look at each other while they tried to process everything that just happened. His words back inside had hurt her, and Toph's callout had confused her even more. The combination made her want to scream at him. She wanted to punch him and let out all her anger at him like she had that night they confronted Yon Rha. But, turning back to finally look at him, she saw his frame half slumped against the wall next to the door and she paused. Taking it out on him right now would do more harm than good. And her urge to help his pain tempted her to move forward instead.

She moved her hands hesitantly at first, before taking a breath and moving quickly to untie the sash that held his vest together.

Zuko immediately stiffened and tried to squirm away from her, "what do you think you're doing!?"

With another deep breath she willed the swirling anger, sadness and concern to fade, trying not to dwell on how things had gotten so hostile between them so quickly. "Your wound needs healing. Now shut up and let me take off your shirt so we can get this over with," she said, forcing her voice to stay as even as possible, but she heard it crack nonetheless.

He looked over her face for a moment, studying the masked emotions etched across her features, and he let some of his resolve fall, "I can take it off myself," he grumbled, as he slid the rest of the way down to sit on the floor.

Katara nodded, glad for the progress and his more cooperative mood. He struggled to shimmy out of his vest and pull his shirt over his head, but glared at her again when she moved to help him, so she just let him be. Once his clothes were discarded in a pile next to him, she took an analytical look at his wound, grimacing slightly. It was redder than this morning and looked more inflamed than before too. She should have treated it much earlier in the night.

"You shouldn't have followed me out here," Zuko mumbled, as she pulled some water from one of the skins she still had slung over her shoulder, "she'll just be angrier."

Katara paused. She had assumed he wouldn't bring up Mai. That it would just be some now unspoken thing between them. She had hoped for that, actually. It would be easier to believe that there really had been nothing between the two of them if they both ignored the entire situation. Remembering her conversation with Sokka just a few hours ago, she thought of the resolutions she made to herself, to stop thinking so much, to feel more – and to stop running from things like this. Maybe she could try to be supportive. And if she did it long enough, maybe it would get easier.

She cleared her throat, "you care more about what she thinks than you do about own pain – you really want to work things out with her, even though you're already fighting."

His eyes trailed over her face again, trying and failing once again to make out what she was feeling, as her hands traces light patterns of glowing water over his stomach. He shrugged in response, "we fight. It's what we do. And besides, I kind of owe it to her to try."

Katara frowned slightly. Owing someone didn't exactly seem like a great reason to be in a relationship. She was about to tell him so, but she stopped herself, unsure if it was her place to say anything. Once again, she was confronted with the fact that she didn't know what her place was apparently anywhere anymore.

 _We're supposed to be friends at least…_ she thought to herself, and she added another resolution to her list, _I'll treat him like any other friend._

Swallowing hard, she decided to help him. "I can talk to her, if you want. I can tell her… the truth," she met his eyes for the first time since taking him outside, and let the intensity of it wash over her one more time as he tried to work out what she meant. "The truth that… that there's nothing between us," it came out as a soft whisper.

A jolt of something crossed his face. They stared at each other hard, unspoken words flying between them at lightning speed. There was a pain and an understanding flickering through the golden flecks of his eyes, and she wasn't sure if she had just broken his heart, or her own. She wanted to run, to escape his numbing eyes, but she remained still and strong.

He gulped and licked his lips carefully, "what was the real reason you were on the balcony tonight?" It was a whisper, his words feather light – if she hadn't been looking directly at him she wouldn't have known he said anything at all.

She blinked and felt the beginning droplets of tears sprinkle her eye lashes. Words wouldn't come to her, but instead the memory of Toph calling out both of their lies surfaces in her head, and she knew her almost-tears were enough of an answer for him. Her healing hand was still pressed firmly to his chest, and his heartbeat hammering through her fingertips. He nodded imperceptibly, and a silent agreement passes between them. Finally, unable to bear looking at him anymore, she turned away, and he let her. He didn't say anything, he just let the unsaid words hang between them. She was left unsure if she was grateful for his silence or not.

-/\/\/\/\/\/\\-

* * *

 **A/N: Oh my gosh, I am so sorry that this took so long, it's been a lot harder to find time to write lately. And I went back and forth for a while deciding if I _really_ wanted to include a truth or dare type scene or not - but I'm pretty happy with how it ended up. **

**As always, thanks so much for reading, it makes me so happy to know that there are people enjoying this :)**

 **There's a lot of drama and changing emotions in this one, but, unfortunately, there's no story without conflict, so I apologize if it isn't quite as fun of a read this time around - but it's all for good reason. Timing is everything, and I want what's left of the canon story to feel natural when we get to it. And then after that, we get total freedom to see where everyone goes from there.**

 **This chapter was originally meant to also include the gaang flying from the Fire Nation to Ba Sing Se, but everything kind of started expanding as I wrote it (as it likes to do when I write lol), and this chapter is already 12,586 words (making it 110,498 words total !), so the traveling and settling in scenes will come next chapter. And of course, all the aftermath of those last few scenes here too.**

 **Thanks again to everyone who comments and reviews, I love hearing what you all think, I appreciate it so much!**


	11. Apprehensive Friendships

**In a New Light**

 **Chapter 11 – Apprehensive Friendships**

-/\/\/\/\/\/\\-

They both agreed that Katara should go back to join the others first. She pushed open the double doors with hesitation as she left Zuko out in the hallway to shrug his shirt and tunic back on. The air inside was filled with a hushed silence and Katara quickly scanned the room to see everyone divided into two distinct groups. Toph was knelt next to where Sokka was still sitting on his cushion, his bad leg jutting out in front of him uncomfortably. The two of them were whispering harshly while Sokka tried to shoo Aang away from overhearing whatever they were saying. Across the room from them by the snack table, Mai and Ty Lee were whispering similarly, with Suki standing between them, arms held between them protectively, trying to play peace keeper.

Disappointment panged Katara's chest. This night was meant to be about moving forward from past wrong doings, and instead, her own petty melodrama was overrunning the evening. If the eight of them couldn't manage to find a compromise for peace, then how were they supposed to represent the future of the four nations at the peace conferences in Ba Sing Se? Even though it hurt her, the divide before her just further convinced her that her promise to Zuko, to tell Mai that there was nothing between herself and Zuko, was the right thing to do. With a deep breath, she cleared her throat, alerting every one of her presence.

Every head turned toward her in apprehension, but Katara focused herself on Mai alone. The tall Fire Nation girl stood like a cool, quiet storm. Her body was still and calm, but her eyes raged like a howling wind. The combination made her stoicism both intimidating and mesmerizing. But Katara stepped toward her and the two Kyoshi Warriors anyway, determined to salvage something from this never-ending night.

"We need to talk," Katara said as neutrally as she could manage, keeping her eyes trained on Mai's face.

"Why? So, you can lie to me some more, or so you can brag about saving my boyfriend's life, and tell me all about how you 'changed his ways' with all your pathetic talks about hope and love?" Her words shot out like daggers, but Katara only let out an exasperated sigh.

Thankfully, Ty Lee spoke before Katara snapped back impulsively, "jealousy doesn't suit you Mai. Mixing all that green into your already gray aura isn't pretty." She said with such conviction and lightness that Katara would have laughed if the situation were different. "Besides, I think what Suki's been saying is right, you should hear Katara out – we're all trying to be friends, right?"

Mai slid her eyes back toward Ty Lee, "I don't need more friends."

"Sure, we do! I've got the Warriors now, and all these guys are way nicer than Azula – and besides, I know how lonely you get, it would be nice to try, and then we can all hang out together and – "

"Ty Lee!" Mai cut off her cheerful rambling with annoyance.

"It's fine," Katara said, holding up her hand, "we don't have to be friends. But, we should at least try to be on friendly terms, and… you deserve an explanation for everything."

Mai's eyes widened a fraction before narrowing back to their natural glare as she took in Katara's offer. "Fine," she agreed with a reluctant nod, and turned on her heel toward the large windows at the far end of the room.

Slightly taken off guard by her agreement, Katara shared a look with Suki before she followed after Mai, who was now fiddling with a small lock at the bottom of the leftmost window. _Of course, she knows this room, of course she's been here before_ , Katara's bitterness drifted in before she quickly dismissed it, and bent down to follow Mai through the small hatch in the window and onto the thin balcony that was on the other side.

The two girls just stared at each other for a moment. Mai's glare wavering somewhere between indifference and suspicion, while Katara fidgeted nervously with her hands. She didn't know exactly where to begin, and she wanted this over with.

"I meant what I said this morning," Katara spoke, deciding that the beginning of the problem would be the best place to start, "that me being in his room wasn't what it looked like."

"I know," Mai responded, still indifferent, "he told me the same thing when I went inside. Emphatically."

"Oh," Katara faltered slightly, "then, uh, if you believed him, why did you make that whole scene in front of everyone?"

Mai's features hardened at the idea that she made a scene, and Katara wondered briefly if she was embarrassed. But her voice was still unwavering when she spoke, "just because you were only healing him last night doesn't mean there weren't other nights before that."

"There weren't," Katara blurted quickly, "truly nothing has happened, I swear." She was already getting tired of defending herself.

"That's not what the blind little earthbender said," Mai argued.

Katara groaned, "I don't know why Toph said that, and I really wish she hadn't. I'm going to ask her exactly what she felt right after this."

"Your friend is a self-proclaimed lie detector, and you're saying she was wrong?" Mai continued flatly, "you aren't exactly doing a very good job convincing me of anything."

"Look, as far as I know Toph has never been wrong before," Mai scoffed and rolled her eyes, but Katara continued strongly, " _but_ , the truth isn't always cut and dry. All I know is that Zuko and I are just friends, and neither of us have said or done anything to hint to the other that we'd want more than that. And-and, he's upset that you think otherwise, he doesn't want you to be angry with him." Her voice softened.

"Don't tell me how he feels," Mai countered, now looking over Katara with open suspicion. Something clicked in her mind and she realized Mai thought that she was trying to play her. That they were in a game of manipulation, and Mai was determined to keep the upper hand. This must be what it was like to be friends with Azula – afraid someone was always watching and calculating your every move. Mai wasn't unemotional after all, she was just a master of a restraint.

Katara let out a sigh, and decided on a different approach. "Mai," she held the older girl's gaze, "I'm not Azula. I'm not trying to trick you, I just came out here to tell you my side of things, and I'll let you figure out the rest from there, okay?"

For the first time, Mai looked completely taken aback, like someone had ripped her stoic mask right off her face. She cast her eyes over Katara with a new sense of surprise, confusion, and some still lingering apprehension. But, she didn't let out another snappy comeback, so Katara took that as a queue to continue.

"You're right that Zuko's different from whenever you saw him last," she chose her words tactfully, trying to pinpoint exactly where Mai's worries lay, "he was already different when he asked to join our group – I had nothing to do with his change. And believe me, I was suspicious of him at first too – I guess not for the same reasons you are but," Katara paused, sensing from Mai's glare that she was getting off topic. "Anyway, he was able to prove himself to us, and he and I somehow became friends, and that's all. All of us spent all our time preparing for the comet, there was no time for anything else."

"And if there had been time?" Mai asked the obvious question, arms folded across her chest.

Katara took in a deep breath, this was the part she was worried about, but she wasn't sure there was a way around it anymore. "I don't know," she answered honestly, "probably still nothing. I didn't realize my feelings for him until tonight when I saw the way he looked at you," her voice was soft and raw. A blush crept up her cheeks and she had to look away. Mai was the last person she wanted to be vulnerable in front of.

Mai's mouth dropped open uncharacteristically for a split second before she regained her composure, "you're just admitting to it?"

Katara shrugged, "I told him I would tell you the truth, and this is it."

"Does he know?"

Katara thought back to just a few minutes ago, and the look of understanding and pain Zuko gave her when she couldn't answer why she had been on the balcony. The memory of it pulled on her heart. "Maybe. But if he does, he hasn't done anything about it, and that's enough of an answer for me," she felt tears threaten to creep up her throat again, but she willed them to wait.

Mai's suspicion shifted slightly toward respect, and she merely nodded in understanding.

"The rest of it, you're going to have to ask him yourself. You should give him more of a chance," Katara offered carefully.

Mai still seemed averse to being offered Katara's advice, but held her tongue this time. She turned to head back inside, before pausing and turning back, "why are you trying so hard to help me?"

"This way will be better for everyone," she shrugged again, trying to adapt some of Mai's indifference for herself, "and besides, I've only known I felt this way for a few hours, maybe by tomorrow the feelings will be gone completely." She had tried to lighten her tone, but her attempt fell flat and hung above them both awkwardly.

Mai met her eyes again, "well, thank you," she said with an apprehensive sincerity, and she crouched back through the window and out of sight.

Katara only stood to look up at the sky a moment longer. The moon was beginning to reach its resting horizon now, and she was too tired to dwell any longer.

Climbing back inside, she saw the previous tension had died down considerably. Suki was propping up Sokka's leg for him, shaking her head fondly while he snored obnoxiously. Aang and Ty Lee were having some sort of competition that involved handstands and desserts, while Mai and Zuko were talking quietly in the corner, their body language suggesting forgiveness. For the first time tonight, seeing them together didn't cause quite such a strong pang to her heart, and she knew there was hope that it will get better. She searched for Toph for a moment, wanting to get to the bottom of her friends malfunctioning heart beat senses.

The young earthbender was curled up her side, just beyond where Suki was now settling in next to her sleeping boyfriend. Toph's snores were roaring almost as loudly as Sokka's and Katara opted not to wake her up. She had learned early on to never wake Toph up unless there was a very good reason. And accusing her of subpar lie detection skills was definitely not a good reason. _Maybe it's better I don't ask her after all_ , Katara thought, looking at the three of them now settled in peacefully, _it won't change anything now_.

With Sokka hogging most of the cushions for his legs, Katara went over to the last table by the desserts that had extra pillows and blankets piled on it. She had just bundled some up in her arms when she heard Aang's familiar, feather-light footsteps come up behind her.

"Hey Katara, how are you doing?" he asked sincerely, as he grabbed a blanket and a pillow for himself.

She sighed, and thought about how often she had asked him the same thing when he was down. He had always been honest with her, but she didn't know if she could bring herself to reciprocate that honesty right now. Spirits knew how much he had gathered from everything that happened earlier tonight, and she didn't want to hurt his feelings too. She had been vulnerable enough tonight. "I don't really know. Just tired I guess."

"Well, I'm here if you want to talk about it," he said with a reassuring nod.

"Thanks, Aang, but I think I've talked enough for tonight," she replied with a soft smile.

"Okay well, if you change your mind, I'm here. I know what you're going through and I might be able to help," he started to turn back toward the circle where everyone was getting ready to sleep.

"W-wait," she stopped him, "what do you mean you know what I'm going through?"

"Ya know, rejection," he shrugged casually.

Katara's jaw went slack as her mind wheeled through all the implications of what he just said. He wasn't as oblivious as she thought. "I wasn – you think I – but you're talking about m – and you – and you knew – but," she paused a moment. "You aren't upset?" she asked a little harsher than she intended.

He shrugged again, "the war is over, I unlocked my last chakra without losing you, and tomorrow we're travelling to start the first peace conference in a hundred years. We won the war, Katara," he reiterated. "The world is wide open now, it's kind of hard to be upset about anything."

 _What exactly happened to him when he talked to that Lion Turtle!?_ She continued to gape at him. She didn't understand what she had to do with unlocking his chakras, but otherwise everything he said made sense, it was perfectly logical. And it was the exact opposite of how she had been expecting him to react. "I can't handle this right now," she huffed, her exhaustion finally beginning to run her ragged.

"That's okay! We'll talk about it eventually," he said, still annoyingly nonchalant and confident.

She groaned, flopped down on the ground next to Suki, and fell asleep to the symphony of her brother and Toph's snores.

\- \/\ -

The sun came up much too early, its heat fanning across where they all lay in the center of the room. Aang's breath tickled Katara's shoulder lightly from where he was curled up a few inches away from her. Sitting up and rubbing her eyes lazily, she saw that she wasn't the first one up; Zuko must have left even earlier in the morning, as Mai was sleeping by herself – other than Ty Lee who's positioning suggested she had attempted to wrap her arms around the other girl several times throughout the night, to little avail. _At least I didn't have to wake up to them snuggling…_

Before Katara could wonder for long where the new Fire Lord had gotten off to, the main double doors of the room slammed open, and an overly cheerful Iroh and the ever-stern Madame Zhi burst into the room.

"Hello kids! I trust you all had a wonderful night of bonding and shenanigans!" Iroh said with gusto.

Everyone grumbled vaguely, none of them really sure if much bonding actually happened, as they sat up drowsily from their haphazard sleeping positions.

"Good," Iroh continued, ignoring their lack of response, "because it's a new day, and we've got to get going – Ba Sing Se won't wait forever!"

"Sure, they will, we've got the Avatar and the new Fire Lord with us. They have to wait for us," Sokka countered smartly.

"Sokka," Aang scolded halfheartedly.

"Ah, yes, well that may be true my boy," Iroh faltered slightly, "but nonetheless, we should get going. My nephew is already waiting on the airship for those of you who will be travelling with him."

Sokka groaned, "but I'm not going with Zuko, so I can sleep for another few hours. Toph, wake me up when we're ready to go." He slumped back down onto his cushions.

"No way Snoozles, if you get more sleep, then so do I," Toph protested.

Aang sighed, "neither of you are getting more sleep. I need to feed and pack Appa, and Sokka you need to get your leg checked before you try climbing aboard. Let's get going lazy bones!"

"That is why I brought Madame Zhi with me this morning, very astute Avatar Aang," Iroh nodded to the Madame to begin her work on Sokka, "the rest of you, come with me, the airship is all ready for you."

Suki leaned over to Sokka and gave him a quick kiss goodbye. Min popped her head out from the hallway to lead Toph and Aang to where Appa was being kept, and the rest of the girls followed Iroh out of the palace to where the airship was waiting.

The inside of the ship was smaller than Katara imagined. It only consisted of a few rooms, the main cockpit and map room for the crew to operate in, two cabins with bunk beds, a shared bathroom, and then the captain's quarters, which Zuko would be staying in. The captain had opted to stay in one of the smaller cabins with the rest of the crew, giving the other cabin to the girls.

Looking around the small room apprehensively, Katara saw that her bag of belongings had already been brought aboard and was resting on one of the top bunks. The bed below hers, and the bunk next to it also seemed to have the other girls' packs as well. She sighed and climbed up to the top and began to rifle through her things absently to make sure everything was accounted for.

It was certainly going to be an interesting journey, sharing a room with Mai and Ty Lee. Suki unpacked her things at the bunk below her, and shot her a sympathetic look as she shrugged on her warrior outfit.

Seeing Suki begin to paint on her traditional Kyoshi makeup, Ty Lee followed suit and Katara decided it would be nice to get a change of clothes as well. Pulling out another of her blue tunics she hopped off the bunk and made her way to the shared bathroom down the hall.

She changed her clothes quickly but took a moment to look over herself in the smudged mirror. She looked tired. Exhausted, actually. As she splashed some water over her face and combed her hair, an announcement rang through the ship alerting them they would be take off in the next few minutes. With one last deep breath she tried to shake herself out of her never-ending thoughts, and headed back to her sleeping quarters.

Katara was surprised to see it was only Suki sitting inside, staring out one of the few windows in their room. She must have been gone longer than she thought.

"Where are Mai and Ty Lee?" Katara asked.

Suki turned to face her, "Ty Lee decided to take first watch over Zuko's room, and I think Mai is inside with him."

Katara nodded woodenly. "As much as I'm glad you're here Suki, I'm not exactly sure Zuko really needs protection while we're just travelling," she replied, not wanting to address the other part of Suki's statement.

There was a slight jerk of the floor beneath them as they felt the ship finally begin to ascend into the sky.

Suki shrugged as she regained her balance, "well we can't be entirely sure of the crew's motives I guess. Plus, it's good practice for Ty Lee – guard duty takes a lot of patience and she could use some more of that. Actually, she practically jumped up and down with excitement to guard the door when Mai said she wanted to go in, she made some weird comment to me about wanting to listen in on them or something."

Katara's eyes went wide, and a fraction of a second later Suki's did too as they both realized the possible implications of what Ty Lee might enjoy hearing. "Y-you don't think that means they're…" Katara couldn't finish the sentence, her mouth had gone desert dry.

"Oh, Katara, no, no I doubt it," Suki fumbled awkwardly, "I mean, Ty Lee likes to gossip and everything but I don't think she'd actually want to listen in on her best friend fuc – "

"Good! Right!" Katara responded a little too loudly, "they can't be doing that! He's injured and can't be enjoying any… _activities_ until his wound is totally healed – that would just be stupid!"

Suki was nodding back vehemently when there was a firm knock on the door frame behind them. Katara squeaked in surprise, and felt a blush come roaring onto her face as she saw Mai standing in the doorway, with her hair slightly mussed and looking nervous.

"Speaking of…" Suki muttered just loud enough for Katara to hear.

"Katara," Mai said her name carefully, as if it didn't sit right on her tongue, "could you come take a look at Zuko, I… I think he may need some healing." Her voice was as calm as ever, only faltering for half a second. But it was the flash of fear in her eyes that worried Katara more than anything.

She shared a brief look with Suki as her friend whispered a shocked 'oh my god,' and Katara followed Mai out of the room, toward the captain's quarters at the back of the ship.

"What happened?" Katara demanded, anger boiling down to her finger tips. _How could they be so_ stupid _– what kind of idiot tries to have sex when he's lost half the muscle in his stomach!?_

"We were talking, and when the ship took off he lost his balance and seemed to be in pain, and he couldn't get up," Mai recounted factually, her voice a fraction weaker than before.

Katara stopped to meet Mai's eyeline, they had reached the door outside Zuko's room – which Ty Lee was still obediently guarding. "Just talking? Really?" Katara countered, "then what happened to your hair Mai? I know this is a disheveled look for you!"

Mai's eyes narrowed, and Ty Lee let out a little 'eep.' " _I_ look disheveled? I believed _you_ when you came out of his room just yesterday looking a hell of a lot worse than this – so, what exactly are you implying?" She had inched forward to tower over Katara, sending daggers with just her eyes.

Katara faltered slightly, realizing her emotions were getting the better of her, "I just mean that, as his medical representation here, I need to know all the facts of what happened so that I know how best to go about treating him."

Mai backed down only slightly, "I tried to balance him when he fell. His hands went into my hair and messed it up, and then he fell further and landed on top of me." Katara glanced at Ty Lee, who nodded as if to confirm that there were no other suspicious noises going on behind the door. "I'm not as stupid as you think I am, watebender," Mai shot back.

Katara nodded, feeling guilty, "I'll see what I can do for him. Sorry." She meant it. Hopefully she'd get a handle on how to talk to Mai soon; the embarrassment from jumping down her throat so quickly was already beginning to settle in. With another hard look passed between the two of them, Katara turned and pushed her way into Zuko's room.

Quickly scanning the room, she understood the fear she had seen in Mai's eyes. Zuko was hunched over next the side of the bed, with one arm hoisted up on it, trying to leverage himself up. With a huff of effort, he tried to push himself onto his feet, but only further crumpled onto himself.

"Zuko!" Katara rushed over to him to support his lower back as he sank down to lean his back against the bed, one arm clutching at his stomach. He looked up at her and nodded to acknowledge her presence through panting breaths.

"Hey Katara," he rasped, attempting to sound casual.

She ignored his nonchalant attitude, "Zuko, what have you been doing this morning? It shouldn't be this aggravated already," she scolded.

His eyes turned dark and he looked away from her. Katara sighed when she realized he wasn't going to answer her.

"Alright, well I'm going to lift you to the bed so I can heal it," she said professionally. She looped her arms under his so that she held most of his weight, and with his help he bent his legs underneath himself to stand, and then immediately sit down on the bed.

His breathing was heavy, but he nodded his thanks, before he took off his tunic and shirt to lie back. Katara gasped when she saw his wound. It was even redder than it was last night; it almost looked like it was pulsing.

"It's fine," Zuko said, trying to calm her down, "I don't really even feel it."

Katara scoffed and immediately pulled a stream of water from her water skin and began healing. She was relieved to feel that the wound was responding quickly, and whatever Zuko had done to it since she last healed him hadn't done any permanent damage. But it still shouldn't look this inflamed unless he was overexerting himself. Katara mentally slapped herself when her mind drifted back to the conclusions she had jumped to earlier. She needed to know exactly what he had been doing this morning.

"…so, Mai said that you fell," Katara asked carefully, knowing if she prompted him right he'd open up.

He mumbled something she couldn't quite understand under his breath.

"What was that?" she asked as she put a little extra pressure into her healing hands, causing him to flinch away from her slightly.

"Shit, Katara," he winced, "I forgot how tough you can be when you're angry."

She scooted back in offense, "I'm not _angry_ , I'm _worried_ about you. You have to be careful, Zuko, if you push yourself too hard then it can get worse." It came out angrier than she anticipated, much to her chagrin, but the sincerity of her words must have come across as well, because he was looking up at her with a soft knowing expression. _Stop looking at me like that_ , she willed him to read her mind.

After a moment, sensing they were toeing some invisible emotional line, he looked away from her and sighed. "It was bothering me before I fell… I, I went to visit my father this morning," he admitted begrudgingly.

"Oh," Katara breathed. "Why did – how was – what did he say?" She fumbled, trying to decide on the best avenue to take.

"Mostly just more of his usual bullshit, how he thinks I'm a failure, that I'll make a terrible Fire Lord and that it's just a matter of time before I come crawling to him asking him for help. Then he tried to make a big point about how worried he was about Azula, probably trying to play favorites again and get under my skin," he regaled with exasperation, "but I know that's all lies too. He doesn't care about her any more than he cares about me – she was just a more useful tool than I was."

She could feel his honesty, that he truly believed and understood that his father was only trying to manipulate him – but she felt how dejected he was too. It must be awful to know how horrible a person is, but still have a part of you crave their validation. Katara wanted to reach out and touch his face, but stopped herself, and settled for the back of his hand instead. His fingers twitched at her touch, and for a moment she thought he would flip his palm over to meet hers, but he never did.

"I expected all of that from him though, and it wasn't the reason I went to see him," he paused, and she let him collect himself rather than prod. "I went to ask him where my mother is."

Katara inhaled through her teeth, and before she could say anything he continued speaking.

"Smug asshole just laughed in my face. I shouldn't have gone to him, all it did was give him reason to believe he still has something to hold over me, some small semblance of power he can taunt me with," Zuko spat bitterly, "…took all of my willpower not to burn his face off right then – but that would have just been playing into his hands." A small spark flickered in the palm of the hand Katara wasn't holding.

"Wait, Zuko, did you firebend?" Katara blurted out, immediately cursing herself for asking a practical question when he was so emotional.

"I just told you I didn't do anything to him!" he snapped back.

Katara had braced herself for his attitude, and pushed onward anyway, "I mean afterwards, did you try to bend?"

Zuko looked away sheepishly, "…may have burned down a tree or two on my way back," he mumbled.

"Zu _ko_ ," she drawled, shaking her head as she pulled another stream of water from her sling to coat her hands, "that's why your wound is so inflamed! You can't bend properly while your wound is still this fresh! Your chi paths are all blocked, not to mention you still need to rebuild about half of your core muscles!"

He sighed, "I knew you'd say something like that," he grumbled as she placed her cool hands back on his chest.

They were quiet for a few moments while she concentrated on stitching him back together. It was fairly easy to fix the damage he had done from overexerting himself, and she couldn't help but notice that his wound was healing well over all. As long as he stayed away from bending and any other strenuous activities, he would only need a few more days of healing sessions.

"I am sorry about your mother," she whispered.

He looked up to hold her gaze fiercely again, "I know you are."

' _I know who killed your mother, and I'm going to help you find him,'_ his voice from a few weeks ago rang through her mind, with the image of his sleep-deprived but earnest determination as he sat outside her tent, waiting for her answer. She had barely even known him then and he offered to help her find closure for one of the most important things in her life. She wanted nothing more than to be able to return the favor, but something was holding her back. In the span of just one day, it suddenly felt inappropriate to unashamedly offer her friendship and support to him. _It didn't feel like an intimate offer when he came to me about Yon Rha, so why does it feel like this would be now?_

She took a deep breath and spoke carefully, trying her best to keep her tone neutral, "Zuko… I want you to know that I'm here for you, and you don't have to be alone if you ever choose to go down that path. I would help you find her if you wanted me too."

"I know you would," he nodded, but dropped the intensity of his stare after just a moment, relieving her from the irksome feelings that made her chest constrict.

He cleared his throat a few minutes later, "I wanted to thank you… for talking to Mai."

Katara nodded noncommittally, focusing herself on finishing up healing.

"Whatever you said to her, it actually worked and she's not mad at me anymore. Well, she's not mad about _that_ anymore," he said with a soft chuckle.

Katara's brow furrowed at the fondness of his tone. Unsure still how to navigate exactly where the friendship boundaries were, she hesitated before deciding not to ask what else Mai had to be mad about, and settled for, "well, that's what friends are for." Her smile was strained, and she knew he felt it, but she kept it up regardless.

He opened his mouth to say something else, but stopped and let out a loose laugh as he shook his head, "I was about to thank you again for healing me, but I remembered you telling me just yesterday morning that I don't need to thank you, right?"

She laughed lightly, with everything that happened yesterday, she had forgotten their odd shyness the morning after Aang had come back. In that moment, it was so important to her to make sure Zuko knew that she wanted to spend time with him, and was glad to be healing him – that he wasn't a burden to her. Just a day later, and it felt like the opposite was true; she had felt like she was beginning to become a burden on him instead.

"I guess a few 'thank yous' don't hurt," she tried to joke. Chancing a glance up to his eyes, she saw that he was trying just as hard as she was to find where exactly the new invisible line in the sand was between them. _This isn't easy for him either,_ she thought with mild relief.

"Well, I am Fire Lord now, so don't expect too much gratitude. I have to keep up appearances and such," he said with a sarcastic smirk.

She couldn't help but smile back. "Of course, your Highness," she capped her water skin and stood to do a mock bow, "I trust you found this healing session to be satisfactory?"

"I did, thank you Master Katara," he nodded back, with his smirk still etched across his features, "and I can expect to see you again this evening for another session?"

She raised an eyebrow coyly, glad to have a shift in mood – it felt nice to just joke around again. "Well, seeing as I am a _master_ and am not a Fire Nation citizen, I have a very busy schedule and am not bound to obey your orders, so you'll just have to wait and see."

He nodded once more. "I look forward to it," he said with an exaggerated professionalism.

Katara rolled her eyes with a scoff, but raised her hand in a half wave and left before she could overthink anything.

Opening the door back out to the small hallway, she was surprised to see that Suki had taken Ty Lee's place for guard duty.

"Ty Lee came running back to the room fairly soon after you went inside, asking if we could switch places so she could talk to Mai," Suki answered Katara's silent question. "Besides, it was getting really awkward being in there with Mai and not talking."

Katara nodded in understanding. "Suki, how did you forgive Ty Lee for everything? I mean, she helped Azula capture you and your warriors, and now you've let her join you all like it didn't happen."

Suki sighed and looked away, "well, it wasn't easy… and to be honest, it wasn't really even my decision."

"But, you're the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors, shouldn't your opinion have mattered more than anyone else's?"

"You'd think so," Suki chuckled, "but I was imprisoned separately from the rest of the warriors remember? After what happened at the Boiling Rock, Azula must have had Ty Lee sent to the prison where the rest of the warriors were and they all managed to bond. I've heard all sorts of stories from the girls about how manipulative Azula was to Ty Lee, and that she basically had no choice but to go along with her. They also said that Ty Lee didn't even really realize what they were doing was wrong, Azula had convinced them they were doing right by their country – but Ty Lee apologized profusely when the warriors explained their side, and then they all played a lot of truth or dare, I guess," she laughed.

Katara laughed distantly as she thought over everything. "So, when you saw her with them yesterday morning, they had already allowed her to join and you just had to go along with it?"

"Sort of yeah," Suki replied, "I was definitely skeptical too, but they were all sure of her loyalty, and I had seen Zuko change his ways firsthand, so who was I to throw her out of the group without giving her a chance?"

"Mm," Katara hummed, staring contemplatively down the hall to the door of their room where Mai and Ty Lee were. "I wonder why Mai wasn't imprisoned with Ty Lee too – based on what Ty Lee said about how they betrayed Azula, Mai was the instigator, not Ty Lee."

Suki shrugged, "Ty Lee mentioned something about Mai's uncle vouching for her and allowing her to stay with him as a 'guest' at the Boiling Rock, instead of locked up with everyone else."

"Hm," Katara hummed again, still trying to process everything. She nodded goodbye to Suki and made the short walk down the hallway back to their shared room.

The door had been left slightly ajar and she could hear the other two girls' voices drifting out softly.

"He's so different. The waterbender girl said that he was already like that, but I saw him only a month ago and he's changed so much." _That's Mai,_ Katara confirmed to herself.

"I like Katara, I think it's brave how she wears all of her emotions out on her sleeve." _And that's definitely Ty Lee's voice._

There was a brief pause. Katara wasn't a fan of eavesdropping, but she couldn't help but hesitate before going inside. Mai sounded much more at ease talking to Ty Lee than to anyone else, and Katara was, admittedly curious to see where else the conversation would go.

"Not that being reserved is a bad thing!" Ty Lee sounded like she was backtracking, "I just mean that I don't think Katara would lie about something like that. Besides, didn't you say that Zuko was super weird in his break up letter anyway?"

 _Break up letter? Was that how Zuko ended things with Mai before he came to join us? Yeesh…_

"Yeah…" Mai sighed. "And he was so sure of his decision when he was locked up for trying to save the Water Tribe kid's – "

"Sokka," Ty Lee provided.

"Ugh, whatever," Mai sounded flippantly. "My point is, they were working together, and when I saw him, I called him out for betraying our country, but he said he was _saving_ our country… and at the time I thought he might be delusional, but now after everything…"

There were some rustling sounds, and Katara risked a glance through the sliver of the door's opening. Ty Lee must have just shifted on the bed to wrap her arm around Mai's shoulder consolingly. And Mai surprisingly didn't pull away from her friend's comfort.

"And now you've gone and joined those Earth Kingdom peasant warriors – yeah, yeah _Kyoshi_ Warriors, I know," Mai corrected before Ty Lee did it for her, "I just mean… we were wrong the whole time weren't we Ty?" Katara was surprised to hear an air of sadness and regret in Mai's voice. "Everything Azula said, and everything we've been taught our whole lives – it was wrong wasn't it?"

Ty Lee sighed and rubbed Mai's arm, "even if we had known what we were doing was wrong, and we wanted to stop, you know Azula wouldn't have let us."

Katara could just barely make out the side of Mai's face as she shook her head. "That's just it, Ty, I wouldn't have even considered risking Azula's wrath just to do better by the Fire Nation – even going against her to let Zuko and everyone escape from the Boiling Rock was an impulse decision and he…" her voice faltered slightly.

 _Is she crying?_ Katara wondered in shock.

"Zuko, risked _everything_ he had just for a _chance_ to make the world a better place. He saw everything for what it really was when none of us could – and then he _did_ something about it. I've never known conviction like that," her words were thick with emotion.

 _Wow_ , tears prickled up in Katara's eyes as both understanding and guilt and maybe a twinge of jealousy swirled in her stomach.

"Aw, Mai! You really _do_ love him!" Ty Lee chirped, squeezing her tightly.

Mai groaned and quickly swiped a single stray tear from her cheek. "But I'm still so mad at him! Half of me admires him and the other half just doesn't understand! Those stupid tapestries – it's like he's completely disregarding his entire culture!"

Katara inhaled sharply, suddenly understanding not only why she had felt like Zuko removing the Fire Nation tapestries had left a weird pit in her stomach, but also why he and Mai had been arguing and pointing at the walls last night.

"Okay, you've lost me," Ty Lee said.

"Wait," Mai's voice had regained its sharp edge, her body had shifted toward where Katara was standing just beyond the door frame. "Katara, I know you're out there!"

 _Shit_. Katara froze. _Nothing to do but own up to it, I guess._

Katara pushed open the door all the way and waved at the two girls sheepishly.

"I'm going to go ahead and assume you were listening the whole time?" Mai's eyes were narrowed and her hands were clasped tightly in her lap.

"…Yes," Katara admitted reluctantly.

"So far you aren't doing a great job at gaining my trust," Mai scolded.

"Don't pretend like you wouldn't have done the same thing if it were Suki and I in here," Katara countered with a boldly casual tone. She crossed the room to sit on the bottom bed of hers and Suki's bunk and mirrored Mai's posture.

"Fair enough," Mai's eyes roamed over Katara with a now familiar skepticism. "And I imagine you want to share your thoughts on our conversation with us?"

"Yes, actually," Katara smiled slightly, and tried not to let Mai's hostile tone affect her. She wanted to make sure she believed her sincerity. "I agree with you about the tapestries. Erasing the Fire Nation's history isn't going to help anyone – they shouldn't just be hidden away in the catacombs so everyone can forget about a hundred years' worth of propaganda."

Mai's head tilted slightly in consideration, her jaw losing some of its natural tightness. "And abandoning all of our symbols will likely be seen as a sign of weakness. The Fire Nation citizens won't see his strength if he's constantly listening to the advice of foreigners such as yourself and the Avatar."

Katara nodded, glad Mai wasn't directly arguing with her. And that she seemed to have a good handle on her nation's politics. "Which is why you should be the one to suggest to him to place the tapestries – and all the rest of the wartime symbols and rhetoric – on display somewhere in the capital where everyone can see them and learn from the mistakes of the nation's past."

"Ooo, wow Katara, that's amazing, how'd you come up with that so fast?" Ty Lee praised, while Mai looked to still be thinking it over.

Katara shrugged, "hiding everything felt wrong to me. And when I overheard you say Zuko would be abandoning his culture, it just seemed like the best compromise. It's an acknowledgement to the past, as well as a promise to do better in the future."

Mai nodded slowly, "and it won't just be good for domestic affairs, but for international relations too."

She had a better grasp on politics than Katara originally anticipated.

"Mai's dad is the mayor of New Ozai," Ty Lee provided proudly, as if reading Katara's mind.

"You mean Omashu," Katara corrected immediately.

Ty Lee chuckled awkwardly, "oh… right, I guess we'll have to work on that too… That was sort of our fault wasn't it."

"You're really okay with me suggesting your idea to Zuko?" Mai said, turning the conversation back to her and Katara.

She nodded back earnestly, "it'll be better coming from you. And then you can suggest it officially at the peace conference too, as his advisor."

"I still don't understand why you're helping me," Mai said after a moment, letting her guard down slightly and allowing Katara to see her genuine confusion.

"My priorities have been mixed up the last fews days, and I've realized there's no good reason for there to be tension between us. Restoring balance between the nations should be all that matters, and letting my feelings override that is just selfish. I think this will be the best for everyone."

"Aww look, see! We _can_ all be friends!" Ty Lee squealed, giving Mai a big hug before running over to give Katara one as well. "Oh, there's just one problem though," she stopped in her tracks in the middle of the room, "Mai hates negotiations and meetings, 'so boring,'" she badly imitated Mai's monotone.

There was a moment of silence, then Katara met Mai's eyes and to both of their surprise, they started laughing.

"You're awful at impressions, Ty Lee," Mai said through her reserved laughter.

"Well, you're smiling aren't you, so it worked," she replied, crossing her arms with a huff.

It did feel a little odd to chat almost casually with Mai and Ty Lee, but for the most part it came naturally. Katara had resigned herself to let go of her animosity toward Mai as best she could, now that she was sure that Mai really was just trying her best. It still caused a pang in her gut to think about it, but Mai loved Zuko, and Katara was convinced now that this is what would be best for everyone.

The conversation did dwindle a few times, but Ty Lee was a master at keeping things as lively as possible. Katara found that Mai was actually an excellent conversationalist when she wasn't bored by the topic, or trying to hide everything she felt. They chatted a lot about Fire Nation practices and differences to the Water Tribe, and Katara mentioned the time she briefly babysat Mai's younger brother Tom Tom. By the time Suki came to get Ty Lee to change over guard duty, Katara was pretty sure that she and Mai were actually on track to being friends. _Well, friend-ish._

\- \/\ -

The day passed by surprisingly quickly as the four girls went over the various topics they expected to be brought up over the course of the peace negotiations. They would all try their best to present a united front to those who would be opposed to listening to the needs and ideas of the Fire Nation. Ty Lee and Suki switched off their guard duty every few hours, and by the time the sun was setting it was just Katara and Suki sitting across from each other on the bottom bunks. Mai had gone back to visit with Zuko a few hours ago.

"You seem to be doing much better tonight, all things considered," Suki gave Katara a pointed look.

Katara sighed, "I have been pretty all over the place, haven't I?"

They both managed a laugh that trailed off into a contemplative silence.

"I think I just needed some perspective…" she looked out the window to stare fondly at the skyline, "I had almost lost him to Azula… It felt so much like when I had almost lost Aang to her too – and then Mai came in and it felt like I was losing him all over again." She sighed again to meet Suki's knowing eyes, "but I realize now it isn't the same thing. I haven't lost him at all – we're just different than how I think we were going to be."

Suki nodded, "I'm honestly amazed you've been able to recover so quickly. If Sokka had done something similar to me I would have kicked his ass."

Katara laughed, "yeah but Zuko and I were never anything, it was always just a 'what if.' It wouldn't be fair for me to stay angry with him."

"If it was always just a maybe for you guys, then what was with Toph saying he was lying last night?"

"Ugh, I still don't know!" Katara ran her hands through her hair, "it is true that nothing actually _happened_ , but I guess our time together did actually _mean_ something to him – so technically he was lying? Or maybe he was just too riled up from the whole situation and his heart rate went up anyway? I don't know, I'm tired of thinking about it." _Because if that's true, and he did feel something for me, that only makes it worse…_

"Well," Suki leaned back on her elbows, "I'm just glad you're admitting to it now. And I'll make sure to mention to Sokka to stop teasing you too."

Katara shrugged, "I doubt he will anyway after he saw my complete breakdown on the balcony last night."

"Aww, you told Sokka before you told me?" Suki teased.

"Well, I wasn't really intending on telling anyone – not even myself, apparently," she scoffed, "it all just kind of happened."

Suki inhaled suddenly and propped herself up on her palms, "you think after last night that Aang knows too?"

A hazy memory of Aang wanting to bond over rejection surfaced in Katara's mind. _Right…I had almost forgotten about that_. "Ugh, yeah I'm pretty sure he does."

Suki grimaced apologetically.

"I actually don't think he's upset though," Katara responded as the details of her conversation filtered back to her. "He seemed worried that _I_ was upset more than anything, and then he said he'd be there to talk to me about it if I wanted."

"Hm," Suki mused, "well, he has seemed a bit different since he disappeared. I mean he's still a big goofball, but there's something…"

Katara nodded, "yeah I've noticed it too. I'm not sure what it is – but I think either whatever happened with the Lion Turtle, or maybe even just taking down Ozai made something click for him. It's almost like he's become fully comfortable with being the Avatar now."

"Or maybe it was finally unlocking that last chakra," Suki said, nodding along with Katara.

"He's told you about the chakra thing too?" Katara said with a smile.

"More like he won't _stop_ telling _everyone_ about his chakras," they both laughed.

There was a light knock on the door in the middle of their laughing fit. It was one of the crewmen with their dinner for the night. Katara beckoned him in and ate it quickly before deciding now was probably a good time to get Zuko's nighttime healing out of the way so she could go to bed at a decent hour. They'd be landing in Ba Sing Se right around sunrise and it was bound to be another long day tomorrow.

Setting her now empty tray down on the bedside table and waving goodbye to Suki, Katara headed out into the narrow hallway. Ty Lee was standing on her hands, with her legs leaned up against the wall next to the door the Zuko's room. It looked like an incredibly uncomfortable position with her full Kyoshi Warrior gear on. But when Katara approached her, Ty Lee lifted one hand off the ground with ease to give her a cheerful wave.

"Hey, Ty Lee," Katara waved back, "I should probably heal Zuko again before we go to bed. Is it uh… safe to go inside?"

Ty Lee giggled before bending back up onto her feet gracefully, "yep, should be fine, they've just been talking."

"Okay," Katara nodded her thanks and hesitated with her arm raised just before the door. Even though she and Mai were on better terms and her own emotions about the entire situation were beginning to subside, she was still buzzing with nerves.

With a determined sigh she hardened her features and rapped her knuckles on the metal door.

"…yes?" came Mai's curt voice.

"Uhh, it's Katara. I'm here to do some healing for Zuko."

There was a small pause and some shuffling and then the door creaked open.

"Uh, hey," Zuko said, holding the door open, his eyes darting between Katara and where Mai was sitting legs crossed at the foot of his bed.

Katara smiled briefly before pushing past him to enter the room. It looked just the same as it had in the morning, except now there were piles of papers scattered all over the desk and floor. _Preparing for the conferences,_ Katara confirmed to herself with a relief she didn't know she had been holding in.

"Um, so…" Zuko trailed off, still looking between the two girls, his discomfort at the situation written all over his face.

"I wanted to see how you're healing up after you aggravated the wound this morning," Katara spoke professionally.

"Okay," Zuko nodded sheepishly, his hand rubbing the back of his neck. His eyes went back to Mai, giving her a hard look, as if silently begging her to leave without having to ask her.

Mai remained still, only quirking her brow with a clear message of _make me._

Katara let the two of them stew in the awkwardness for a moment, silently reveling in the fact that she was no longer the only one made uncomfortable by this whole thing. That's when an idea occurred to her. A small, petty idea – but one that could have a good practical outcome.

"Mai," Katara smirked as she turned toward her, "why don't you stay so that you can see firsthand how his healing happens. And then I can teach you how to do his bandages as well."

Zuko would have to wear that look of discomfort for a little while longer.

"Err," Zuko faltered.

"That's a great idea, Katara," Mai said, flashing her a quick smile as she stood to give Zuko room to lay down.

 _Looks like Mai isn't opposed to some light teasing either,_ Katara fought back a chuckle, _maybe this means she's starting to trust me a bit too._

"Uh, Mai are you sure – this seems like it would be pretty boring for you," Zuko said, his eyes silently pleading with her.

"Actually, I think learning about Katara's magic water will be pretty entertaining."

"It's not magic, it's waterbending." The words fell out of Zuko's mouth apparently without him even realizing, as a crimson blush crept up his cheeks a good second later.

Katara's eyes went wide and she had to clamp her lips together to keep from laughing. _I said that in front of him to Madame Zhi just the other day._

Mai sent a hard glare at the both of them, disliking that something had clearly just gone over her head.

 _Okay, let's wrap this up before it backfires on me – the goal here is to give Zuko a taste of some of the awkwardness,_ not _to make Mai go back to hating me_. Katara gestured to Zuko to lay down and she took Mai's spot at the foot of the bed.

"Let's just get this over with," Zuko grumbled as he pulled off his shirt and laid down on the bed. His jaw was clenched tight and he looked up at the ceiling defiantly.

Katara scooted closer to Zuko's chest and pulled a stream of water from her pouch. She turned back to see Mai watching intently, her face only showing traces of annoyance. Moving her hands to his stomach, Katara didn't let herself hesitate to touch his bare chest. As much as she wanted to make Zuko feel a bit of what she's been feeling all day, she knew she had to show Mai that these healing sessions were just that; healing sessions.

The three of them were silent as Katara focused on stitching the threads of muscle back together. The air was thick with tension.

She had done this so many times now that she knew the intricacies of his wound well and she fell into an easy rhythm of moving her hands to the most vulnerable areas. Mai's presence behind her slowly came closer as she watched with interest.

As Katara moved her hands to the lower area of his wound – where most of the damage had been from his firebending this morning – she was surprised to feel that it had almost completely healed.

"Wow, Zuko! This is healing great just from this morning," she couldn't help but to contain her joy. It had just been superfluous damage after all, just a slight case of over exertion.

There was a small sigh of relief from over Katara's shoulder, and she remembered that Mai must have been worried about him too.

Zuko looked away from the ceiling for the first time to look at both of their faces skeptically, before a small smile graced his face.

Katara turned slightly to see Mai smiling back at him too, and did her best not to react to the pit in her own stomach. But Mai's smile disappeared only seconds later and was replaced with another hard stare.

"No more going off on your own you big idiot!" Mai said harshly, and she slapped him lightly across the shoulder, "and definitely no more firebending until Katara gives you the okay, got it!?"

"Ow, ow – ow! Okay Mai, okay!" Zuko put his hands up to defend his face from her. She hit him a few more times for good measure.

Katara cleared her throat to get their attention, giving them both a strained smile. Mai pulled back to stand behind Katara once again, and the three of them regained their composure.

With her plan to make Zuko uncomfortable being slightly derailed, Katara felt the need to flee before her feelings got the better of her. So, she quickly got to teaching Mai how to bandage up Zuko's chest – how to tuck the bandages into themselves by alternating between wrapping around his ribs and then up to his shoulders. Luckily Mai was a quick learner and worked quietly to make sure she was doing a good job, giving Katara a moment to compose herself once again.

Once Katara was satisfied with Mai's work she gave them both a quick wave and turned to leave. She caught Zuko's eye for the briefest moment, his gaze sympathetic and grateful – and then she was gone, walking swiftly by Ty Lee and into their room.

"How was it?" Suki asked carefully, as Katara pulled herself up onto the top bunk.

Collapsing down, hair splayed across her pillow with a puff of air, Katara let out a deep sigh. "It was… well, it's getting better," she rubbed the heels of her hands into her eyes, "this time I lasted five minutes before wanting to run away, jump in a lake and pull out all my hair."

Suki leaned out from the bottom bunk to give Katara a kind smile, "I'm sure it'll keep getting easier." She reached up to give Katara's hand a light squeeze.

She squeezed back. "Thanks Suki, I think you're right." Dropping her friend's hand, she turned to face the wall and closed her eyes.

\- \/\ -

Flying so high in the sky, there were no clouds to shield the sun as it rose off the horizon directly in front of the ship, letting slivers of sunlight to creep in through the cabin windows and shine directly onto Katara's closed eyelids. Rolling over with a groan she stared out the window, allowing time for her eyes to adjust to the brightness long enough to realize that the ship was actually slowly descending down to the clouds just below them. And not moments later, an announcement rang through the cabin alerting them that they would be landing in ten minutes time.

Shifting to look around her cabin, Katara saw Suki's bunk beneath her was empty, while Ty Lee across from her was still sound asleep, with her arm slung over her face, and now covered with a perfect imprint of her Kyoshi makeup. Glancing down to where Mai was sleeping Katara couldn't help but suppress a giggle. _I guess she can't maintain her controlled composure in her sleep too._ She committed the image of Mai's limbs splayed haphazardly at odd angles, and the small puddle of drool around her open mouth to memory. She was ashamed to admit it, but seeing her in such an unrestrained state, made Katara feel just a bit better.

Sliding silently off the top bunk, Katara went down the hallway and to the bathroom to freshen up, waving to Suki where she stood for guard duty, with a yawn as she went.

Rubbing her eyes as she left the washroom a few minutes later, she slammed into Suki, hard. Katara lost her balance slightly, tripping forward, only to be caught by the shoulders.

"Oh, shit Suki, sorry, I didn't think you'd – oh." It wasn't Suki. It should have been the lack of Kyoshi armor, or even the flat hardness of his chest beneath his tunic that alerted her to the fact that her face was currently _not_ pressed into the nape of her friend Suki's neck, but rather her maybe-friend-maybe-current-former-crush-Zuko's chest. But it was the warmth of his hands on her shoulders, and the slight scent of jasmine coming from his skin that made her realize exactly who's chest she was _still leaning on._

Jumping back suddenly, her face feeling like it had been lit aflame, she began apologizing profusely.

"Ka-katara, it's – Katara let me talk," Zuko protested as she continued apologizing over him. "It's fine," he rubbed her shoulder subconsciously, "it's hardly the first time we've run into each other. Shit, we've actually injured each other sparring before, it's fine."

"Oh… uh, yeah you're right." _So why does everything feel so different now?_ She looked up to see Suki snickering just beyond Zuko's shoulder. "I just, uh, was you know, joking, because you're the Fire Lord now, and a lowly peasant can't just be going around knocking a great powerful nation leader off balance," she managed a smile, but it didn't reach her eyes and she knew her excuse was flimsy at best.

His face scrunched up in a mixture of confusion and amusement. "That's a terrible joke Katara."

"Ah, ha, yeah you're right, again. I guess I won't be auditioning to be your royal jester anytime soon," she said with a more convincing smile this time.

"That one was a little better," he said with a sly smile.

She was about to mention that maybe he could take his hands off her shoulders now, when the ship made a sudden lurch into a solid stop, causing Katara to fall forward once again, this time catching herself by wrapping her arms unceremoniously around his neck, while his grip tightened and lowered to wrap around her lower back.

"Mmph," Katara grunted, now back in the crook of his neck.

"I, uh, I think that means we landed," Zuko said somewhat breathlessly. She looked up to see his face was just as flushed as hers. They stared at each other a moment, both of them hyperaware that he had been rubbing her back soothingly since she had fallen forward the second time. They were locked in a silent contract. If he stopped moving his hands, it would be the same as acknowledging that he was doing it in the first place, and that was something neither of them seemed to be able to admit in good conscious.

"Ahem!" Suki cleared her throat loudly, causing the two of them to jump about a foot away from each other. "It's Fire Nation custom for the Fire Lord to leave the ship first, right?" she asked pointedly.

"Err, uh, right, thanks Suki," Zuko nodded once to Suki, and promptly turned on his heel toward the ship's main exit hatch.

"You are in serious trouble girl," Suki whispered to Katara once they were alone.

"Shhh!" Katara hissed, "just pretend like nothing happened."

"You really think that's going to work?" Suki raised an eyebrow, "because that was some serious chemistry. Toph was right, that was _not_ nothing."

"Not helpful," Katara glared back. "Officially, nothing happened, and so there's nothing to worry about."

"Ookay," Suki drawled.

Katara walked forward swiftly. She was not going to let that small _nothing_ , ruin all the progress she'd made. Things were going to go back to normal between them all, she'd make sure of it.

Head held high, she followed down the hall to the exit of the ship and stepped out into the dry Earth Kingdom heat, where Ty Lee and Mai were waiting with Zuko, surrounded by a small crowd of people.

"Holy shit, Aang wasn't lying – Lee really is the Fire Lord!" a familiar gravelly voice filtered through the crowd, "and that means Jet was right too! Man, would he be _pissed_ if he were here!"

 _Smellerbee_ , Katara confirmed as she recognized the Freedom Fighter's slight frame among the crowd, standing next to the ever-silent Long Shot.

"Katara!" she turned toward where she heard Aang calling her name. "Katara, look! I found Smellerbee and Long Shot – isn't it crazy that they actually knew Zuko from when he was staying in the city?"

"Aang," Katara whispered harshly, "don't you remember what the Freedom Fighters thought of the Fire Nation!? Them finding out someone they considered to be a friend had actually been an enemy the whole time, could end _very_ badly."

Aang tilted his head, "but that was just Jet. Smellerbee and Longshot were always cool. Plus, The Duke met Zuko when we were at the Western Air Temple and he didn't mind either."

"I don't know," Katara said, looking over to where Smellerbee and Long Shot were sizing up Zuko contemplatively.

"Well, I have a good feeling about this," Aang said cheerfully.

 _I'm not so sure…_ The Freedom Fighters were Earth Kingdom citizens with a very complicated relationship to both the Fire Nation and Katara's group of friends. _I have a feeling this peace conference is going to be a lot more complicated that we thought…_

-/\/\/\/\/\/\\-

* * *

 **A/N: Hi everyone, sorry this one took so long to get out. So so so many of you have left really sweet comments/reviews and I really appreciate it. Thanks so much for your patience!**

 **I went back and forth with this chapter a few times, because I really did want to spend a little bit of time on Mai and Katara's tentative friendship (as they are seen being friendly with each other in the last scene of the finale of the show - plus I don't totally love the idea of pitting them against each other just because they like the same guy in my fic, and also I personally really like Mai and don't want to treat her unfairly as a character either), but what was originally one semi-bonding scene ended up turning into essentially a whole chapters worth of content, so I do apologize that we aren't heading to the official ending of the show's finale as quickly as I had originally anticipated.**

 **Oh, also, I know there's a bit of like avatar world politics/policies conversations in this chapter, and that isn't everyone's thing, but it all served a purpose here (ie as a way for Mai and Katara to bond as well as respect some of each other's differences), but don't worry, even with the peace conferences coming up, I'm going to do my best not to overload the chapters with too much of this.**

 **This chapter comes in at 10,975 words, making the whole fic 121,473 words. Goddamn.**

 **As always, thank you so much for all your comments and for sticking around - it means so much to me! I'm _pretty_ sure we should hit the end of the show's run next chapter, and then onward :)**


	12. The Sounds of Sunset

**In a New Light**

 **Chapter 12 – The Sounds of Sunset**

-/\/\/\/\/\/\\-

"When did you arrive?" Katara asked Aang as they were led by one of the Earth King's servants into the palace.

"Hm, a couple hours ago? It was still dark," Aang replied. "General Iroh wanted to walk around the lower ring to visit his old apartment and that's when we ran into Smellerbee and Long Shot."

"How did they seem?" Katara asked carefully.

Aang scrunched up his face in thought, "fine mostly. They were surprised to see Iroh in Fire Nation clothes, and there was some confusion for a while until I figured out that their friend 'Lee' was our Zuko. They didn't believe me at first that he was really Fire Lord, but when Iroh explained that he was part of the White Lotus who retook the city during the comet, they came around."

"But even so, they must at least be upset that someone they considered to be their friend had been lying to them the entire time they knew each other," Katara said, still concerned.

Aang shrugged, "well, you can ask them yourself, I invited them to stay at the palace with us during the conferences."

Katara looked back behind her to where Smellerbee and Long Shot were talking animatedly with Sokka, Suki and Toph. She had to admit that they didn't seem too bothered by the whole situation. "Are you sure King Kuei is going to be okay with you inviting more guests into his home?" she turned back to Aang as they passed through the inner wall into the main courtyard of the palace.

"He's got plenty of room, and the more the merrier right? Besides, I'm the Avatar, he can't say no," he said with a cheeky grin.

Katara rolled her eyes, "Aang you know you can't keep pulling the Avatar card all the time, especially when we're here as his guests."

Aang shrugged again, "I just ended the hundred-year war, I think I'm entitled to a little bit of Avatar privileges" He didn't drop his grin.

She narrowed her eyes at him, "fair enough, I guess." Truthfully, she was glad to see his confidence back after all the indecision from a week ago. But she wasn't going to let him know that, no need to inflate his ego any more than it already was.

The Earth Kingdom's palace was much more spacious and open that the Fire Nation's. Where the Fire Nation had long hallways and tall pillars, the Earth kingdom had open courtyards and ornate murals made of earth. But they both shared a feeling of an almost haunting emptiness.

Their large group was slowly broken up into smaller groups as the servants split them up to lead them down different halls to their respective wings.

"Um, why are we aren't we all just staying in the same wing? Surely there's enough room in one side of the palace for all of us – we can even share rooms if we have to," Katara said to the servant who was closest to her. The idea of being separated from all her friends again gave her that familiar sinking feeling in her stomach.

"It is the Earth King's wish that the representatives from each nation stay in their own quarters so that there are no negotiations beyond the meeting rooms," the servant, a thin short man with a long skinny beard, said mechanically. "Now, if you and your brother will follow Ta Ling up toward the North Hallway, we will get you situated with the rest of the Water Tribe peoples."

"W-wait," Katara held out her hand impatiently before the servant turned away from her, "it doesn't make sense for us to all be separated! I mean, I'm here with the Avatar, and surely you aren't going to be making him stay alone as the _only_ representation for the Air Nomads!?" The servant looked over her, barely managing to hide his disdain, which Katara promptly ignored, "and in addition, I'm also here as the sole medical representation for Zu – the Fire Lord, he's still going to need healing for the next few days!"

"Ah, yes, I was aware that there would be a few more _complicated_ situations with some of our guests," the servant said with an air of annoyance. "Because of your circumstances, the Earth King has allowed those of you travelling with the Avatar to be allowed to choose where to stay. But know that wherever you decide will be who you represent in the upcoming meetings."

Katara's jaw dropped, affronted. "That's hardly fair! The whole point of being here is to come up with compromises – how is this good for anyone!?"

"It is the way it is, Miss," the servant said indifferently, finally turning away from her.

"Classic Ba Sing Se," Toph said, coming up from behind her, "just more walls and more rules."

"I just thought it would be better now that the war is over," Katara huffed.

"So, who're you going to pick, Sweetness? Your friends, your people, or _lover boy_?" she teased.

" _Toph!_ Will you shut up with that!?" Katara scolded, while Toph only chuckled. She spoke again a moment later when she realized Toph was actually expecting an answer. "I guess I'll have to stay with the Water Tribe. My dad, Sokka and I will be the only people here from the Southern Tribe, and they'll need all help they can get," she breathed out, exasperated.

"And what about Fire Lord Hot Head?"

Katara shot her useless warning look, "I'll just sneak out in at night. It should only be another day or two anyway."

"Niiiice," Toph practically giggled, "we've been here all of ten minutes, and you're already defying their rules."

"So, then I take it you won't be staying with the Earth Kingdom delegation?" Katara asked knowingly.

"No way! I don't owe these stiffs any loyalty!" Toph punched one fist into the other palm.

"What're you so glad about?" Sokka said, hobbling closer to them on his crutch.

"Oh, Toph's just excited to break some rules," Katara said waving her hand.

Sokka nodded in solidarity, "I'm with you there. Can you believe they won't let me stay with Suki!? They barely even let the warriors in! Said they were all too 'suspicious.'" He made one-handed air quotes.

"Well, the last time they trusted the Kyoshi Warriors, they took over the entire city in the name of the Fire Nation. And now they come back as the _personal guard to the Fire Lord_. I mean, you can hardly blame them," Toph pointed out.

"Oh Spirits, this really is going to be harder than we thought, isn't it," Katara sighed.

Sokka made a noise of disgruntled agreement, and he and Katara waved goodbye to Toph and Aang and made their way up to the North Wing of the palace.

\- \/\ -

"Gran-Pakku!" Sokka exclaimed when they walked into the common area of the North Wing. He hopped over to give him an enthusiastic hug.

"Ah, yes, good to see you too my boy," Pakku responded, patting Sokka's shoulder gruffly.

Katara walked over to give him a hug as well, "it is great to see you Master Pakku – we didn't know you'd still be in the city."

"Yes, well, Iroh asked me to stay and keep an eye on things while he checked on his nephew after the comet – and I heard you did a marvelous job healing him up, is that right?" Pakku asked with a twinkle in his eye.

"Yes I – " Katara started before Sokka interrupted her.

"Yeah, yeah Katara healed Zuko and took down Azula, but you know I helped too! Everyone seems to be forgetting I _broke_ my _leg_ while taking down a fleet of airships!" he gesticulated to his leg enthusiastically.

"We have not forgotten my boy, and we are all very proud of your efforts," Pakku said dismissively, "your father has actually arranged for you to be seen by our healers before the first meeting, so why don't you go find him over by the fireplace while I speak to your sister some more."

"But I – "

"Time is of the essence boy!" Pakku cut him off.

Sokka grumbled away, "stupid waterbenders… acting like it's some secret club… I did cool stuff too… dad will care… tell him all about my 'airship slice!'"

"That boy needs to learn not to talk so much," Pakku said under his breath, turning back to Katara.

Her brow furrowed, "he deserves recognition as much as I do, Pakku."

"He's a big boy, he can handle it," Pakku said, effectively steering the conversation elsewhere. "But I do have something important to talk to you about."

He motioned for them to sit at one of the couches in the center of the spacious room. She took a seat and looked at him apprehensively. Other than waterbending training and Gran-Gran, she wasn't sure what else she and Pakku really had in common to discuss.

"So, ever since we saw each other just before the comet, and you explained how you had learned to meditate from Iroh's nephew, I've been thinking," Pakku began.

Katara had never seen him excited before, and nodded hesitantly for him to keep going.

"It got me thinking about all the experience you've had travelling all over the world, and all of the unique and adaptive waterbending you would have learned, and well, I was hoping you accept my offer of becoming a waterbending teacher alongside me – well, not _alongside_ per se, because your class would be quite unique and – "

"W-what, hold on, Master you're going too fast," Katara protested.

"– I already have two students, a brother and sister, who are very eager to learn from you. And you'd have all the freedom you have now, because it would be all over the world and – "

Katara held her hands up, "Master Pakku, wait, what exactly are you suggesting? You want _me_ to… teach?" This was the man who, just half a year ago, refused to let her even _learn_ combative waterbending, and now he wanted her to teach a brother and _sister_ – and then there was something about all over the world?

"My apologies, I've gotten too excited and gotten ahead of myself," Pakku took a breath. "I have an idea for a different type of waterbending school, where instead of learning only in the North Pole, the students could travel to all four nations to learn different forms of waterbending that are more possible in other regions. I've heard from Iroh, among others, that you've adapted your skillset quite a bit since travelling in the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation, yes?"

While he was making more sense, Pakku was still talking a little too quickly for Katara's brain to fully catch up. "Uh, yes?"

"Ah, good!" Pakku clapped his hands together, "I'll send word to Sangook and Keo that you've agreed to teach them. Keo especially has been looking forward to this since I sent word last week – "

"Pakku, _wait!_ " Katara hissed. "Yeesh you and Madame Zhi would really get along great," she muttered under her breath. "I really appreciate the offer, but I need to think about it. I honestly have no idea where I'll be after the peace conferences, I could be anywhere."

Pakku nodded in understanding, "but that's the beauty of it, my girl. I would send the students to you – you could teach them about bending the water in plants in the Earth Kingdom, or taking water right out of the air in the Fire Nation, and those meditation techniques you learned would be especially spiritually enriching in the Air Nomad temples – now that there's peace, we can all learn from each other again."

 _There's not peace quite yet…_ she thought worriedly before another thought struck her. "Pakku… how do you even know I learned all of that?"

"Oh, General Iroh was gushing about you a bit while we waited for our opportunity to retake the city during the comet," Pakku said proudly.

Katara's face scrunched in confusion, "but I've never told Iroh any of that eithe-" She stopped mid-sentence, her lips parted. _Zuko. I've either shown or told Zuko about all of those things. He… he spoke to his uncle about me? When could he have even… that night he went into Iroh's tent to apologize? They had only a few hours together and Zuko spent some of it talking about… me?_ It was the only time that made sense, and yet she found herself looking for reasons to disbelieve it. The corner of her mouth turned up involuntarily in a fond smile, while a pink blush dusted her cheeks.

"I… I still have to think about it Master Pakku, thank you for thinking of me," she said, her voice cracking as she shook herself out of her haze.

Another adult with another prestigious offer for her. She had to admit that Pakku's travelling teacher idea was inviting, but she wasn't sure if she was ready for it. Even though he had appointed her as a master waterbender, she still felt like she had a lot more to learn. And as much as she didn't want to admit it, she wasn't sure if she was ready to be so much on her own. When she pictured her life in the unknown that was beyond the peace conferences, she was always with at least one of her friends – and the idea of travelling the world without Appa or Aang at a minimum just felt wrong. _I suppose Aang could teach with me, and the Avatar teaching classes would certainly get us some more students…_

The image of Aang rolling around in the snow playfully instead of learning waterbending with Pakku all those months ago, surfaced in her mind. _Yeah, maybe trying to get Aang to focus long enough to teach bending to other people won't be the best idea,_ she thought fondly.

It would be a big change, and she was glad to have the next week or so to think it over.

Just then there was a knock at the main door that led back to the hallway. Chief Arnook stood from where he had been tapping his foot impatiently in a nearby armchair, and went to answer it.

An Earth Kingdom servant was stood there looking nervous. He bowed tentatively, "greetings Water Tribe peoples. It is now time for the first meeting to begin, if you and your dignitaries will please follow me to the conference room."

Chief Arnook nodded curtly, and motioned for everyone to follow him out of the room. Katara stood with the rest of the men as they made their way down the hallway to where she knew the war meeting room was. As they passed by the main courtyard that sat between the four guest wings of the Palace, she saw Aang and Toph across the way, leaving from the room in the South Wing. Aang caught her eye and waved to her cheerfully. Katara chuckled and waved back, shaking her head at his perpetual positive attitude.

With her attention focused on the far end of the courtyard off to her right, she didn't notice when the line of Water Tribe representatives stopped in front of her, and she ran directly into Pakku's back.

"Unh, oh, sorry Master," she apologized quickly. "Why have we stopped?" she asked curiously, taking note of the disapproving looks the other men were giving her as they proceeded through the door to the conference room.

"Erm, well, I'm sorry my dear, but Chief Arnook has explicitly stated that only those designated by him are to represent the Water Tribes," Pakku replied, unable to meet her eye.

"Right. And I'm here with my brother and father as the only representation for the Southern Tribe," she responded tersely.

"…er yes, my dear, that's true. But Chief Arnook has asked that only Chief Hakoda and your brother Sokka be the official representatives," Pakku's voice slowly grew smaller.

Katara inhaled through her nose, doing her best to fight the anger that was rising in her chest. "Are you telling me that I gave up my spot to represent the war heroes with Aang and Toph, just for you to stop me right before the meeting started!? My father is Chief in his own right, Arnook has no power to make decisions for him or our tribe!"

Pakku held his hands up in front of him, "you need to understand that this was not my decision my chil – "

"Oh!? Oh, was it not your decision!?" Katara snapped back, unable to contain her temper any longer, "but it was your decision to offer me the teaching position right!? They were fine with that idea apparently, so what exactly is the problem with me representing my own goddamn nation!?"

"They uh, have seen and acknowledged your prowess as a bender and I was able to convince them to let you teach," Pakku said sheepishly, "but for them to allow you to voice your opinions in an official setting such as this, is another thing entirely."

Katara practically growled in response, feeling the water in the nearby potted plants shiver as she clenched her fists to her sides. In the months she had spent away from the Northern Water Tribe, she had forgotten about their sexist policies. With Pakku allowing her to become a master, she must have somehow deluded herself that she had made significant changes to century old traditions.

"If… if that's all your questions my dear, I should probably, just head…" Pakku pointed to the door behind him and awkwardly slid inside.

As soon as it shut, Katara yelled out her rage, throwing her hands up, and smashing the potted plants in the process. She wanted to stomp her feet and cry, but resigned to just quietly huff out her anger for a few seconds instead. Someone surely must have heard the clay pots shatter and she didn't want to bring more attention to herself.

A moment later, her suspicion was confirmed as Sokka stuck his head out of the door, clearly balanced awkwardly between the door frame and his crutch.

"…They aren't letting you in?" he asked carefully, not meeting her eyes.

Katara let out a resigned sigh, and looked up at him sharply, "stay and represent the Southern Tribe with Dad. And you better do a good fucking job." She pointed at him harshly as she made her demands, immediately turning on her heel when he nodded back to her meekly.

Finally giving in to the urge, she stomped her way to the courtyard between the four guest wings, and found herself in front of a small pond. The whole courtyard was a beautiful Zen garden, with perfectly placed rocks and sand sculptures, a few small ponds and trickling streams. But, right now, Katara didn't see any of it. As far as she was concerned, the air in the entire palace had turned red from her rage.

Something about the calm movement of the pond in front of her only made her angrier. She closed her eyes to grasp at the water sloppily, pulling it up toward herself, only to thrash it back down. She repeated this a few times until there was more water on her clothes and in the grass surrounding her than in the pond itself. She collapsed to the ground out of breath.

Not bothering to bend the water out of her clothes, she just let it seep in and coat her skin. What made everything worse is that she should have expected this. When she left the common room, she had noticed that none of the women who had been healing Sokka's leg had followed along with them, and yet she still felt completely blindsided.

It must have only taken a few minutes for her breathing to return to normal, but it felt like an eternity. Slowly, she became aware of approaching footsteps. The courtyard must have looked like a mess, and it was probably one of the Earth King's servants come to tell her to leave, but she didn't care. She'd stay there and soak in her rage all day, she wasn't going to be listening to anymore orders today.

"Katara, why aren't you in the meeting?" a concerned voice drifted into her ears.

 _Oh, it's Aang,_ she relaxed slightly. "Pakku," she answered numbly.

"Oh," Aang said, floating down to sit cross legged with ease.

"Actually, not just Pakku. Arnook and all the rest too," Katara elaborated, pushing herself up to rest on her elbows and turn her face toward his.

"I thought things were better with Pakku now though? You said he was all proud of you when you saw him before the comet?" Aang asked curiously.

Katara sighed, and sat up fully, "not proud enough to convince the rest of the tribe that my opinions matter. Apparently, all I did was add the job of 'waterbending teacher' to the list of approved job titles for Water Tribe women," she spat bitterly.

"That's doesn't sound fair," Aang scrunched his face in distaste.

"Tell me about it…" Katara mumbled, picking at the damp grass by her feet. "Wait, Aang," she looked up at him, "what are you doing out here? I saw you go into the meeting."

"Oh, I left to come find you," he said simply, flashing her a sly grin, "I told them I wouldn't allow them to start the meeting without you there."

Her jaw dropped slightly, feeling a little giddy. "You stopped the first peace meeting in a hundred years, just to come get me?"

"Yep," he confirmed, matching her smile. "I'm telling you; you shouldn't knock the power of being the Avatar."

She scoffed and rolled her eyes, but still smiled to show him her gratitude. "…So, you're saying that they'll hold the meeting for as long as it takes for you to convince me to come back inside?"

"Yep," he nodded, "I made them swear not to talk politics until I was back in the room. And then Toph threatened to smash their hands if they didn't wait for me, and that shut them up."

"Well, then I think we should make them wait a little longer then, shouldn't we?" She grinned and leaned back on her hands and crossed her ankles.

Aang chuckled and matched her relaxed positioning. "Sounds good to me, I hate meetings anyway."

Katara smiled, and they were quiet for a moment as they both leaned back and let their skin absorb some sunlight.

"Aang, what's your plan once the peace conferences are over?" she turned her face back toward him, realizing she hadn't asked him about it yet. He was in a similar position as she was after all; she had been so preoccupied with her own place in the no longer war-torn world, that she hadn't even considered that it must be a thousand times worse for Aang. He _really_ had nowhere to go back to.

"I've actually been wanting to talk to you about it," he said, holding her gaze. "I was thinking about restoring all of the air temples. No one's been around for them for a hundred years, and now that I am here, I sort of feel like it's what I was meant to do next. And, well…" he paused, looking shy. "I was wondering if you'd want to come with me – I mean, I know the Southern Water tribe needs rebuilding too, and even the Northern Tribe too, and you'll want to spend time with your family now that you can, but, I'd really love it if you came with me too." His eyes were wide with hope, and she could see from his expression alone how much it would mean to him for her to say yes.

It was the first offer that had been presented to her that didn't feel like a job. And he was the first person not to immediately assume that she would agree. Beyond all of that, it sounded nice. She had come to really love travelling on Appa, and learning more about the Air Nomads and Aang's culture sounded fascinating. Plus, she was sure that with Aang in charge there would be plenty of down time to just have fun, and probably ride a wild animal or two. She realized she was smiling as she thought it over. But she had told both Pakku and Madame Zhi that she would consider their offers, and while she wasn't thrilled with Madame Zhi, and was definitely still upset with Pakku, it was only fair to all of them that she give each option a fair amount of consideration.

"That sounds really amazing, Aang, honestly," she answered sincerely, "but I'd like some time to think about, if that's okay?"

He nodded as if he had been expecting her to say just that. "I understand, just let me know."

She nodded back in confirmation, before leaning back again to stare up at the sky, weighing exactly how many more minutes were appropriate to keep all of the world's leaders waiting on her.

"Okay, I'm feeling a little guilty now, let's go in."

Aang used his airbending to lift himself back up to his feet and they walked side by side back to the large double doors.

As soon as they entered the room Katara could feel that everyone had just been talking about her. There was a hushed murmur running throughout the room and everyone was staring at the two of them from the corner of their eyes. Taking a look around the room, she saw all of the Water Tribe men, minus her father and Sokka, were looking at her with open disappointment. Pakku continued to avoid her eyeline.

Past the Water Tribe delegation, sat around the far-left corner of the large map that took up the center of the room, was Zuko and the rest of the representatives from the Fire Nation. Apart from her own new group of only three people, the Fire Nation had the least number of representatives, with only Zuko flanked by Mai and Iroh, and the small handful of Kyoshi Warriors that had met up with Suki and Ty Lee earlier this morning. Quickly running her eyes over each of their faces, she could tell that at least none of them were upset with her disruptive entrance. Zuko and Iroh both seemed almost proud of her actually. Zuko much less outwardly so, but she knew the slight curve at the corner of his mouth well enough to be sure.

The far-right corner of the map is where the large Earth Kingdom delegation sat. King Kuei was surrounded by tens of generals and other dignitaries, many of whom Katara recognized from her time in the Palace before the city fell to Azula. Even General Fong and King Bumi were there all the way from the western edges of the Earth Kingdom. King Bumi seemed to be the only person in the room who had no idea that the meeting had even been interrupted or stalled in the first place, he had been too busy playing with Momo while Aang was gone.

Aang led Katara over to where Toph was sitting at the near right-hand corner of the room, and they both sat down wordlessly.

Leaning over, Aang whispered into Toph's ear, "how did it go while I was gone?"

"No crushing was needed. But we'll definitely want to watch out for some of these goons. They were muttering under their breath as soon as you stood to leave," Toph jabbed her thumb in the direction of the men and few women surrounding King Kuei.

Not a moment later General Fong cleared his throat and rose from where he had been sitting behind the Earth King, "now that the teenage shenanigans with the Avatar and his little crush have been dealt with, can we please move on with the meeting?"

Katara clenched her fists, but willed herself not to retort. She knew responding to the bait would just further reinforce his ideas.

"As the girl is Water Tribe, we would like to apologize on her behalf. She was not meant to be representing us as these accords, and we are deeply sorry for the inconvenience she has caused," Chief Arnook stated, rising from his seat as well.

With a deep resigned breath Katara stood as well, forcing her words to stay steady, "as Chief Arnook and the rest of the Tribe have made clear, I do not represent them, and therefore they do not have the capacity to represent _me_ or any apologies I may or may not decide to give. Now we have all come here for a reason so why don't we all – "

She was cut off by General Fong, who's strong voice overrode hers easily. "Come now, Your Highness," he turned toward King Kuei, "certainly you are not going to let this young girl have such an influence over such an important meeting!"

With her nails carving small half-moons into her palms, Katara was ready to defend herself further, when there was a strong gust of air that came from her right and caused everyone standing to stagger backwards.

"Enough!" Aang roared. "Katara is here regardless whether any of you like it or not! She helped end this war just as much as I or the rest of my friends did! While you two," he pointed at Arnook and then at Fong, "just sat around on your asses and _waited_ for the war to end, Katara took down Azula before she could claim the Fire Nation for herself! Something that, if I remember correctly, none of you," he now turned to look directly at all of the military personnel around the Earth King, "were able to do when Azula came for Ba Sing Se!" The soldiers shifted uncomfortably. "Katara is a war hero, and regardless of my feelings for her, she deserves to be here, and you all just have to deal with it!"

Katara's cheeks flamed and she felt the small trickle of a tear line her eye as gratitude swelled in her chest. Aang huffed and sat back down crossed legged next to her and gave her a swift nod before turning his gaze back to the rest of the room, who were all still stunned into silence.

"Now, General Fong, why don't you start off with some of the concerns regarding the peace treaty that you're clearly very eager to discuss," Aang prompted, his voice regaining its professionality.

As the meeting commenced Katara couldn't help but occasionally glance at Aang in awe. She had forgotten how commanding he could be. How he really knew how to be decisive and get people to listen to him when the moment called for it. He was no longer the little kid who ran away from his responsibilities, secretly hoping he wasn't the Avatar. She was proud of him.

\- \/\ -

Time dragged on slowly as it became clear that each nation was focused solely on themselves. What they individually wanted from the Fire Nation as retribution before they would accept peace. The Water Tribes wanted punishment, and the Earth Kingdom – led by General Fong, rather than King Kuei – wanted money so that they could help rebuild and take back the lands that were stolen by the Fire Nation.

Zuko remained silent during most of their demands, listening intently and nodding along respectfully. Occasionally he would listen as Mai or Iroh would lean over to whisper in his ear, which was usually followed by an exasperated sigh and pinching of the bridge of his nose. He gave the Earth Kingdom counsel no answer for today, stating his apologies for the state of the world, and telling them he needed time to go over everything with his advisors before making a decision.

This was met with some grumbles and general distaste from both the Water Tribes and the Earth Kingdom, but Aang stood to pacify them both and remind everyone that just managing to speak civilly to one another for an extended period of time was some to be proud of. He effectively ended the meeting and everyone agreed to reconvene at the same time the next day. Everyone stood and bowed customarily before meandering out of the room and to their respective halls.

"Phew! Man, am I glad _that_ is over," Toph exclaimed as she, Katara and Aang made their way across the courtyard toward the South Hall. Where the sun had shone brightly on their faces earlier today, now there was only the faint glow of the signature green Earth Kingdom crystals to light their path.

Katara scoffed, "oh please, you were asleep half the time, you barely even had to listen to any of it!"

"Well maybe if that Arnook guy didn't have such a boring voice, I could have stayed awake," she crossed her arms. "I don't know why I even need to go to any more of these things, I've heard enough."

"Sorry Toph," Aang said as he pushed open the door to their shared common room, "but we need you in case anyone starts lying."

"Ugh, can't you guys just find another blind earthbender to do it for you?" Toph said as she flopped down onto the large couch that stood in front of the fireplace.

Katara rolled her eyes as Aang fell for her compliment bait, "come on Toph, you know there's no one like you."

"Right you are Twinkle Toes," she crossed her ankles, "now if you two would be quiet so I could get my beauty sleep, thanks."

This time Aang joined Katara in rolling his eyes, and they both headed down the adjoined hallway nonetheless.

The layout of the South Hall's residential quarter looked to be a mirror image of the North Hall where the Water Tribes were staying. There was the large and spacious common room, full of comfortable chairs and couches, a stone fireplace with special crystals instead of wood – so that the fire would burn green – and then a long dining table next to the window on the far wall beyond the last of the arm chairs. To the right of the common room was a long hallway, lit by more glowing crystals in sconces, and about half a dozen doors on each side. Which, Katara presumed, led to the actual bedrooms.

The first door on the left had Aang's glider propped up against it, while the door across from it on the right, had Katara's small pack of belongings slumped beside it. Someone must have taken it back from the Water Tribe's hall at some point during the day.

"Well, I'm gonna get some sleep too, see you tomorrow?" Aang asked as Katara bent down to grab her sack of things.

"Wait," she turned back around quickly, slinging the bag over her shoulder as she went. Her hand shot out to grasp his before he could reach for the door.

He shifted to face her again, his eyebrows raised as he looked from where both of their left hands were intertwined, up to the sincere gaze of her eyes.

"I, I wanted to thank you for standing up for me today. You didn't have to, and I think it'll really make a difference over the next few days," her cheeks warmed.

He smiled fondly, "of course! I meant it; you deserve to be here more than most of those assholes."

Katara raised her brow teasingly at his swearing, and laughed lightly. "Well, thanks. And hopefully it'll be smooth sailing from here." She stepped forward to lightly kiss his cheek.

His smile widened a fraction, and his eyes shined. Something about the way he was looking at her with admiration made her chest swell. She turned around with a wave before she let him see her own smile creep any further up her cheekbones.

"Goodnight!" she called back and she pushed open the door to her bedroom.

The room was simple, a bed, a stone desk, and a set of dresser drawers with a mirror mounted on top. There must have been a shared bathroom somewhere down the hall. Knowing time was of the essence, Katara plopped her bag down at the foot of the bed and began to rummage until she found what she was looking for.

Her Fire Nation outfit was her best bet at getting in and out of the West Hall where Zuko and the rest of his party were staying, but she'd have to leave soon if she wanted to get a healing session in before the evening curfew set in. The fact that Ba Sing Se still had a curfew, and actually enforced it in the palace of all places made her roll her eyes and scoff to herself as she tied the knot at the bottom of her shirt.

Glancing over herself quickly, she decided she looked Fire Nation enough and she set out back to the open-air hallway next to the center courtyard. She wrung her hands nervously as she approached the west side. Getting caught sneaking into the new Fire Lord's bedchamber at night wouldn't look good for anyone. Even if they believed the truth, surely one of the Avatar's representatives giving personal medical attention to the supposed "enemy" would be a huge conflict of interest. And she didn't need another reason for Fong or Arnook, or anyone else, to dismiss her credibility in the meetings.

Once she reached the corner that connected the South and West Halls, she stopped to conceal herself behind one of the stone pillars and scan the area. The plan was to just walk into the common room like she belonged and hope that either the Kyoshi Warriors wouldn't notice her, or _would_ recognize her and let her through. But as her eyes drifted further down to the main door, she saw that the Kyoshi Warriors weren't on duty after all. That same Earth Kingdom servant from earlier today was standing patiently, staring directly ahead.

 _Shit. They really must not trust the Warriors anymore._

Taking a moment to observe the rest of her surroundings, Katara moved on to Plan B: sneaking through the windows. To her left the West Hall continued on to connect to the rest of the Palace, and just beyond where it intersected with the South Hall there was a large window cut directly out of the stone of the wall. She tiptoed over, careful not to alert the servant-turned-guard, and looked down to see that the ground below the window was only a few feet beneath her. The jump would be easy enough.

With one last glance to her right to make sure she wouldn't be seen, she vaulted herself over the edge and landed with a precise thud. As she made her way along the backside of the hall, trying to assess which room could be Zuko's, it occurred to her that there hadn't been a guard outside her own room. And she hadn't seen any other servants or guards on her way over here either.

 _Must be the entire Fire Nation they don't trust._ She scoffed, but after everything, she wasn't sure she could really blame them. To everyone else here, Zuko was just _another_ Fire Lord. Son of former Fire Lord Ozai. What reason _would_ they have to trust him?

A light from the window directly above her ignited and she was knocked out of her thoughts. She kept closer to the wall and made her way further along, deciding to peek into the rooms at the far end first, where the ground had begun to slope upward and would give her a better vantage point to look inside. _We really should have set up a meeting time or something…_

The first window that was low enough for her to peek into had the green glow of an active glow crystal. Slowly, she rose up onto her toes to look over the lip of the window. It looked like someone was lying down in their bed, but she could only get a good look at their feet.

As she gripped her fingers tighter on the rough earth of the window opening, she saw a rush of motion in the corner of her eye, followed by a light thunk. Someone had just jumped out of the window directly to her right. Katara froze, willing herself to turn invisible.

Shifting her eyes over in the dim light, she couldn't make out anything other than that there was a vaguely person-shaped thing in front of her.

" _Katara?_ " they hissed in confusion.

She blinked a few times as recognition washed over her. It was Suki.

"Hey!" Katara whispered back excitedly. "…why did you just jump out of your window? And why aren't you in your Kyoshi gear?"

"Those stupid Earth Kingdom guys won't let us do our jobs, so I'm off to see Sokka," she said with a flippant wave of her hand.

"Ah," Katara nodded knowingly.

"What about you, why are you here and dressed like that?" Suki motioned to Katara's outfit.

"Healing session," she replied, "I had been hoping you'd let me in actually. The disguise was just in case anyone else saw me."

"I've been hearing about how great Ba Sing Se is my whole life, but now that we're here, this place really drags," Suki rolled her eyes. "I can't do my job, and you have to sneak around to do yours! Why are there so many rules?"

"It really is the worst," Katara couldn't help but smile. Suki usually was a fan of order and routine, but this city had a way of bringing out the inner Toph in them all. "Hey, you know which room is Zuko's right? I really don't want to go jumping through the wrong window."

"Oh yeah! It's two more down, the next one that's lit," Suki pointed just over Katara's shoulder.

Katara thanked her, and they parted with a wave. It was only a few more feet to the room Suki had indicated. She rose up on her toes again, this window was only a few inches above her shoulder and was a little easier to see into. But the room was arranged differently than the one she peeked into earlier. The crystal on the wall was glowing strong, but Katara couldn't see Zuko or anyone else inside. There didn't seem to be a bed inside either. Strange.

Brushing it off, she figured she'd just go inside anyway and wait until he came. With a deep breath she dug her fingers into the flat lip of the window and heaved herself up with all her strength, rolling over it in one swift motion.

As she flopped ungracefully inside, she became aware of several things at once. There was in fact, a bed in the room, it had just been so close to the window that she couldn't see it from where she stood before. And Zuko was definitely in the room as well. In the second and a half since she had taken her to jump through the window, she had landed front first onto a sleeping and shirtless Zuko, bumped her forehead painfully against his teeth and felt his hands as they squirmed, trapped awkwardly between his own chest and her breasts. They both let out a startled yelp and Zuko promptly threw her off of him, leaving her on the floor rubbing her head where his teeth had scraped across her brow.

"Ow," she pointedly.

His eyes roamed over her and she watched as the sleep-induced confusion slowly left him and recognition set in.

"You should have announced yourself!" he growled, "if I had known it was you, I wouldn't have thrown you off!"

"I didn't know you were in here!" she argued. "Wait, what do you mean you wouldn't have thrown me off," she asked, fully realizing what he had said.

His eyes widened and she spotted a faint blush in his annoyance, "you know that's not what I meant!"

 _I'm not sure I do know that…_ She shook her head before she could let either of them continue down that conversation. "It's not my fault your bed is so close to the window, and I don't want to argue about it. I had to sneak out to be here, so do you want me to heal you or not?"

She wasn't sure exactly where her own frustration was coming from, he had every right to be annoyed after she had practically pounced on him. But something about his anger was feeding into her own. They just couldn't seem to have a normal interaction lately.

His hard stare only lasted a moment longer before he sighed and slumped his shoulders, "sorry. It's been a long day. I actually was hoping you'd come, but I fell asleep while I was waiting."

She nodded and stood up, grateful for an easy apology, and her previous frustration left as quickly as it had come. "It has been a long day," she agreed, sitting next to him on the bed.

Luckily, any awkwardness surrounding her having to ask him to remove his shirt was avoided as he had already taken it off some time before she arrived.

"It looks to be healing well," she reached out to touch his wound tentatively.

He only nodded and leaned back against his pillows in response – signaling for her to go ahead and start healing. Tucking her legs underneath herself she got into the now familiar position. She was glad to have something to focus on, but this was becoming so routine that her mind drifted as she used the water from her sling to further stitch his skin back together.

"Does Mai know I'm here?" she asked, remembering how she had sat in on their healing session the night before.

"Er… no," Zuko bit his lip.

Katara's brow furrowed but she kept her tone light. She genuinely hadn't meant to imply anything with her question. "Well, you should probably tell her. She has the right to know when the girl who had a crush on her boyfriend sneaks into his room at night," she shrugged as she said it, imagining Mai's face if she had seen the way Katara had tumbled into the room a few minutes ago.

It wasn't until Zuko's head whipped up to face her with a look of surprise that she realized she had actually said it out loud. _Shit_. She was pretty sure he already knew, but the look on his face told her that hearing out loud must have solidified it for him.

" _Had_ a crush?" he asked after a moment, his voice low.

She gulped. "Uh, what? Is that, uh, what I said? I think you're still tired, you probably misheard or something…" It was lame and she knew it. And she definitely wasn't fooling him.

But he didn't call her out. In fact, the longer the silence dragged on, the more she wasn't sure he had fully heard her response after all. His eyes were far off, deep in thought.

"Do you remember that night after we saw that awful play?" he asked, his voice matching the distance of his gaze.

 _Do you mean the actual play where we had to watch caricatures of ourselves go at it onstage, or later that night when I imagined what it would be like to kiss you…_ Remembering anything from that night seemed dangerous right now. "Uh, yeah I remember. Why?"

"You were conflicted about your feelings for Aang. You said there could be something there, but you weren't sure because you were so focused on the war," he turned back to face her. His face looked calm, but there was a slight flicker of something beneath the surface. "I saw the way you looked at him today." It was a statement, but with the slight uptick of a question.

He wasn't demanding an answer, but she couldn't help but wonder what had made him think to ask – and how long he had been thinking about it. "Why, jealous?" she asked, matching the casualty of his tone.

His eyes narrowed and his façade broke for the briefest moment, letting her see that she was at least a little bit right. Triumph threatened to tug at the corner of her mouth, but she kept her cool, and he quickly masked his expression once again. Something clicked in her head. They were playing a game of a sort. Honesty told through aloofness and indifference. Maybe she could get some answers – get some of her feelings out on the table, without showing too many of her cards.

She'd start with the honesty. "I, I still don't know. He means a lot to me, and I have a bond with him that I don't have with anyone else. But clearly, I'm not an expert on figuring out what the hell any of my feelings mean," she finished pointedly, bringing in the aloofness.

His eyes softened, and she knew he understood her meaning.

"Besides, it's not like you'd leave Mai even if I was sure I felt nothing for Aang." The indifference came through in her tone, and she held her breath. Where the sudden bravery to be open with him came from, she didn't know, but there was no turning back now. Her heart was pounding, she knew what she was implying and the risks that came along with committing to asking it. But she needed to know. She needed to know that at least one of them was sure of what they were doing. No more back and forth, no more blushing from surprise touches, no more what ifs, and no more waiting to see if things would change on their own.

As much as she had been telling herself to move on these past few days, she has still been holding out hope. It was tiring. And this could help make it easier.

"No… it, it wouldn't be right," he said firmly, but the apology was clear in his eyes. He was tired too, tired of having to make the decisions, and tired of hurting her.

It was the answer she had been expecting, and this time there was no all-consuming sorrow. Only a dull, far off pain. An improvement overall, she decided.

She nodded, "good. Friends, then?" She posed it as an offer. He could decline if he wanted – surely, she had made the past few days harder on him than they needed to be. The more she thought about it all, the sillier it seemed. The fighting might be over, but in many ways the war was still waging all around them. Neither of them should be worried about this, and she had been unfair to put this added pressure on him.

"Friends," he returned her nod, and a smile of relief lightened his features. Katara couldn't help but smile too. His friendship had been the thing she was most worried about losing, and it looked like he had shared that fear too.

They chatted more easily after that. She asked him how he thought the conference was going so far, and why he hadn't said much. His uncle had told him it would be more respectful to let the other nations let their grievances out first, so that Zuko could respond in the most diplomatic way possible. Most of Iroh's advice was centered around Zuko's image, rather than any policies he could suggest. The other nations have only had negative opinions of the Fire Nation for so long, that Zuko had to do whatever he could to show them that the Fire Lord could be cool, calm, collected – and most importantly, willing to listen.

"You," Katara pointed at him with a chuckle, "he wants _you_ to be calm and collected?"

"Ha, ha" he rolled his eyes. They were now sitting cross legged across from each other, Katara having finished healing him some time ago. "I actually think I did a pretty good job – but those Earth Kingdom fucks are so stuck up I'm not sure Uncle's advice will even matter anyway."

"Yeah! Kuei is lost without someone telling him what to do, and General Fong doesn't seem to care about anything other than his own power or money."

"They're so disconnected from their people, it's a disgrace! _I_ know more about what it's like to live in the slums of Ba Sing Se than they do!" Zuko threw his arms up in exasperation.

Katara sat up straight, "Zuko! You're right!"

"Err, about which part?"

"About knowing more about Ba Sing Se! All of Kuei's delegation are high up military men who have no real experience with the city – and Kuei himself didn't even _know_ about the war until we had to tell him a few months ago!" she said excitedly.

"Yeah… but why do I get the feeling you think this is a good thing?" Zuko asked apprehensively.

"Well, it's not – but I've got an idea of how we can get better representation for the everyday Earth Kingdom citizens, _and_ they might just vouch for you too!" she was practically bouncing up and down in place.

Zuko's eyes flickered as he understood her meaning. "I don't know Katara, I'm not sure they'll really be on my side…"

"Well… maybe not," she said dismissively, wringing her hands, "but it's worth a shot, and there's no way they'll be worse than Fong."

"I guess so," Zuko shrugged, looking unconvinced.

Katara rose to her knees and pushed herself back up onto the window ledge. "Well, I should get going to see if I can talk to them tonight," she turned back to face him. "Um, about your wound… it should mostly heal on its own from now on, but if you're feeling any discomfort I can come back again. We should uh, probably come up with some sort of system so I can know to come if you need me?"

He nodded and thought for a moment. "The servants usually leave spark rocks outside the rooms in the evening, so that everyone can safely make tea if they wanted to – we were all _very politely_ asked not to firebend while in the palace," he grumbled and Katara rolled her eyes. "Anyway, how about if I leave two spark rocks outside your common room, instead of the usual one, it means you should come?"

He looked away sheepishly, and Katara couldn't help but smile. It was still hard for him to admit when he needed something, _or someone_ , she thought. "That sounds like a great idea. Same time as tonight, if needed?"

"Mhm."

She held his gaze a moment longer before giving him a small wave, and hopping back outside.

\- \/\ -

The walk back to her room was quiet and simple. There was still the one Earth Kingdom guard outside of the door to the West Hall's common room, but Katara was able to slip by easily enough. When she reached the door to her own quarter, she saw that someone had in fact left a single spark rock inside a small stone box right outside. _Should be an easy enough system_ , she thought as she bent down to grab the box and head inside.

The common room looked like it had exploded in the hour or so that she had been gone. Furniture was overturned, and various sconces of glowing green crystals were completely askew on their walls. Katara would have thought they had been robbed if it weren't for the four sleeping bodies in the center of the room. Toph must have given up her spot on the couch since Katara had left, and was now on the floor next to it instead. Aang too must have left his room, and was now curled up in one of the few still standing arm chairs. And then Long Shot and Smellerbee – who Katara suspected were the reason for the state of the room – were laying across each other haphazardly, with their legs up on the dining table, and shoulders on the ground. The two Freedom Fighters had been missing all day – having not been invited to the actual meetings – and Katara could only imagine what kind of mayhem they had gotten into on their own today. _Hopefully they didn't do any irreparable damage. We're going to need them tomorrow._

Katara placed the stone box with the spark rock on a side table near the door and crossed over to where her friends were sleeping. Careful not to disturb any of them, she pulled the armchair next to Aang's upright and settled into it. Being curled up in a small ball, surrounded by her peacefully sleeping friends was infinitely more comfortable than any palace bed could ever be.

\- \/\ -

To Katara's surprise, Aang, along with Smellerbee and Long Shot, had come up with a similar plan to the one she and Zuko had thought of the night before – and they were set to put it into motion during the meeting today. Both she and Aang discussed everything in detail, away from the two Freedom Fighters, before heading out, and came to the conclusion that giving them the opportunity to speak could really go either way in terms of where exactly their allegiances would lie. But ultimately, their voices were ones that weren't being heard, and it was more important that they be given an opportunity while they were here.

So far, the meeting was going just about as smoothly as it had the day before. Kuei was indecisive, and Fong and Arnook continued to argue about what they were owed, all while Zuko continued to remain silent.

"Punishment is fine and dandy, but what we really need is money so that we can rebuild – that is the priority of the Earth Kingdom!" General Fong bellowed for the third time this morning.

Becoming exasperated with the repetition, Aang stood and held up a hand to silence the general. "What about you King Kuei, do you agree with General Fong that money to rebuild will be the primary need of the Earth Kingdom in the coming years?"

King Kuei looked startled to have been addressed directly, but stood to respond after a moment. "I apologize Avatar, while I have spent the last month or so travelling to learn more about my country, I must admit I don't think I have the authority to speak to what the Kingdom needs most. I trust General Fong's judgement."

"If that's the case, then maybe you all should hear from people who actually do have firsthand experience of how the war has affected everyday life?" Katara said, standing as well. She was about to nudge Toph so she'd give the signal to Smellerbee and Long Shot that it was time to come in, when General Fong spoke over her again.

"That doesn't even matter right now! None of our suggestions mean anything, if the young Fire Lord here," he jabbed his finger toward Zuko, "won't respond to any of our demands! How are we to get anything done if he just sits in silence!?"

Eyes narrowing in annoyance, Zuko let Fong's words ring throughout the room for a moment before he stood and faced the general. "I have spent the last day and a half listening to everything both you and Chief Arnook have said and asked for, but I think Master Katara has a point: the voices of the citizens should be heard as well."

General Fong shook with anger, "excuse me!? You don't get to decide who does or doesn't get to be heard, fire scum! I have let you sit here and judge us in silence for too long! You people shouldn't have even been allowed at these conferences – we were supposed to be discussing how to take you all down, not mulling over peace strategies with the people who have been trying to eradicate us for the past one hundred years!"

Kuei shifted uneasily in his chair at Fong's mention of a plan to destroy the Fire Nation.

"I know you're angry General," Zuko growled, "you deserve to be. You all deserve to be furious. And you may not believe it, but _I am furious too_. I am deeply sorry for the pain my country has put you all through, and I am painfully aware that there is nothing I can ever do that will even come close to making up for the damage we have done. I am here to listen to you and help rebuild the world to the best of my abilities. But after hearing you whine for the last day and a half about not being paid enough, I am no longer sure that you are the person who's requests I should be heeding."

Fong looked like a boiling pot getting ready to overflow, positioned to lash back at him any second, but Zuko continued nonetheless. "I want _peace_ , General Fong. This war has done nothing good for my country either. I want peace for all of you, but I want peace for my country as well. And if I cannot show my people that I am at least _trying_ to fight for them – especially the innocent among them – then they will rebel against me, and all of this will have been for nothing!" His anger was controlled, but evident – Katara swore for a second she saw steam coming off the crown tucked into his topknot.

"So, you admit it then?" Pakku's voice drifted over from the Water Tribe delegation.

Zuko turned toward him with surprise, fists still clenched. Arnook and the rest of the Northern Water Tribe looked equally as surprised that Pakku had spoken out of turn.

"You admit that the Fire Nation has shattered the world balance to the point that it would unrecognizable to anyone who was still alive one hundred years ago?" Pakku reiterated.

Zuko's brow scrunched in confusion, "wha – yes, yes of course I do."

"Eeh heh hahahaHAHA! Now this is getting interesting, finally everyone is on the same page!" King Bumi's voice echoed throughout the chamber. His laughter was so sharp that it startled everyone in the room. He had been so uncharacteristically silent this whole time that Katara had forgotten he was even there.

Bumi stood and somehow managed to make eye contact with every single person in the room, causing everyone who was standing to sit back down with mechanical awkwardness.

"Now that we all know the young fire boy just wants peace like the rest of us, I think it's time we actually get going somewhere with this damned meeting. Arnook, I'm sure the fire boy will agree to punishments for those who deserve it – so shut up about it! And Kuei, stop listening to Fong, he doesn't know what he's talking about – he's just here for his own personal interest." Bumi looked at each of them as he addressed them, "Katara and Aang, good idea bringing in your Earth Kingdom friends, I think it's time everyone heard their opinions as well."

Everyone nodded dumbly as Bumi continued to berate them all for not utilizing more neutral jing, while General Fong looked affronted and slowly shrank into himself. Aang looked oddly proud of his old friend, and turned to Katara to flash her a wide hopeful smile. She returned it with ease, relief flooding through her.

Moments later Smellerbee and Long Shot burst in, the former waving smugly while the latter nodded mutely as they passed by the various dignitaries.

Now that Bumi had effectively silenced General Fong, the two Freedom Fighters were given full reign of the floor. They explained how they had come to know the Avatar's group, their run in with Zuko in the lower ring, and how they had been a part of a group of renegades bent on getting revenge on the Fire Nation. The Earth Kingdom militia surrounding King Kuei seemed very interested in that last bit.

Another general – General How, Katara recognized him from her time going over the invasion plans – spoke up once Smellerbee finished explaining who the Freedom Fighters were. "So, you were part of a vigilante group who would raid the Fire Nation colonies and various soldier encampments?"

Long Shot nodded.

"Then, if everything you've said is to be believed, I imagine you both have a deep-seated hatred for the Fire Nation, and by extension the new Fire Lord. Especially after finding out he had been lying to you personally for some time. So, would you both agree with General Fong's assessment that Fire Lord Zuko and his country owe the Earth Kingdom payment?" How was diplomatic and fair, his voice was neutral and never wavered. His question posed with no threats or demands. It was the complete opposite of General Fong's approach to the situation.

Still, the room hinged on the silence that came once the last word left his mouth.

"Hell _no_." Smellerbee spat.

Katara, Aang and Toph's jaws fell open and they had to fight back laughter. Both General How and Zuko's eyebrows shot up their foreheads in surprise, and Bumi's laughter could be heard ringing throughout the room around them.

"We know firsthand what money and power in the hands of the Ba Sing Se government means for the scum like us. _Your_ Dai Li agents," she pointed abruptly at King Kuei, "brainwashed and _killed_ our friend – and who knows how many others!"

Kuei's face crumbled in sorrow, and after what looked like much deliberation, he stood to address her. "I am deeply sorry to you children. _All_ of you," he said turning to face Katara's side of the room, then toward Sokka over with the Water Tribe men, and finally to Zuko. "You all have suffered at the hands of this war, and at the hands of my own people as well. I did not know of these horrors until recently, and Long Feng has since been dealt with of cou – "

"But that's exactly the problem!" Smellerbee interrupted, refusing to back down, "you don't know _shit_ about what's been going on! At least the barely pubescent Fire Lord over there – " Zuko's face scrunched almost comically in a mixture of confusion and offense, " – knows who he's fighting for and what he's fighting against!"

Things erupted after that. General Fong had regained his defiant attitude, and got into a screaming match with Smellerbee. Kuei continued to look disgusted with himself, while General How tried to calm everyone down. And Bumi's laughter was the soundtrack to it all.

"…Aang," Katara nudged him with her elbow. " _Do_ something," she whispered once he had lent his ear toward her.

"I think it's a good thing!" he whispered back, "they're all finally talking!"

"Yeah, but the plan was to get Long Shot and Smellerbee _in_ with them! They're never going to get anywhere with all of us watching. We should let them talk and the rest of us will adjourn for the day?"

Aang looked around the room and saw the mixture of bored, amused, and judgmental faces of the other nations. "Okay," he confirmed, before he stood and slammed a blast of air down the center of the room with his glider – not unsimilar to the one he had made the day before.

"Quiet!" he bellowed.

He had their attention immediately.

"You all need to learn to listen to each other, so I say we all leave you to figure out what exactly you want, and we'll all come back same time tomorrow. Does that sound fair?"

Everyone looked around and grumbled to themselves but no one made a move to leave. The Water Tribe men especially looked eager to stay – as if they had been watching the world's most entertaining play.

"Ugh," Katara groaned as she got to her feet. "You heard Aang, everyone but the Earth Kingdom side, out!" she said fiercely.

Somehow, that worked, and everyone else slowly made their way out of the room.

Katara, Aang and Toph found themselves sitting around one of the ponds in the center courtyard. Moments later Sokka and Suki joined them, followed by Zuko, Mai and Ty Lee. With the entire Earth Kingdom delegation occupied in the map room, the guards didn't seem too bothered by all the kids lounging around in the zen garden.

"Phew… well that was…" Sokka trailed off, gazing up at the sky.

"Boring," Mai supplied matter-of-factly.

"Well, I was going to say it was a shitshow," Sokka waved his hand noncommittally, "but to each their own."

Everyone laughed at his ease, and even Mai cracked a smile. Having others sort out their problems on their own for once was a weight lifted off all their shoulders, even if they all knew it would only last a few hours.

"We should have like, a secret party once all of this is over!" Ty Lee giggled with excitement, "no adults allowed!"

There was a lull where Katara expected someone to dismiss Ty Lee's penchant for parties, but no one did.

"I hate to say it," Toph spoke up, "but I think I agree with Pinky."

Every one turned to her in surprise.

Toph shrugged, "I'm just saying. It's only been _two days_ of these meetings and I already wanna smash my head in. It'll be nice to have some relaxation to look forward to."

"Ah! Sweet relaxation!" Sokka howled dramatically as he flopped backwards onto the grass, his arms spread straight out from his shoulders, "how I've missed you!"

"Sokka, haven't you spent the last two days being fawned over by all the Northern Water Tribe healers?" Katara said, rolling her eyes.

Sokka lifted his head to glare back at his sister, "hey! Those little old ladies are a lot less gentle than they seem!"

Toph erupted into laughter, while the rest of the group suppressed chuckles at the mental image of the healing women having their way with him.

"Ugh! That's not what I meant – Suki, you know what I meant right?" he turned to look at her desperately.

"Sure sweetie," she patted his shoulder, while flashing the rest of the group a sly grin.

Sokka groaned again, and flopped his forearm over his eyes while continuing to mumble to himself.

They were able to sit and just chat and laugh all together for another half an hour or so before the guards caught on and sent them all back to their respective halls. But not before they had hatched the plan to spend the last night of the conferences holed up at Zuko's Uncle's tea shop. It was a small thing, but just knowing that there was something silly and pressure free to look forward to, allowed a great sense of ease to settle over them all.

\- \/\ -

The rest of the meetings went by with relative smoothness. King Kuei kicked General Fong out of his delegation after Smellerbee and Long Shot snuck into his quarters and found evidence of him embezzling money from King Kuei himself. He was planning to use the money to commission various historians from Ba Sing Se university to increase Fong's role in the ending of the war for the official history books. The two Freedom Fighters were then given a permanent position on King Kuei's council as "civilian life" experts, and Kuei would often turn to them for advice whenever he was unsure about a decision.

With General Fong gone, Chief Arnook had lost his focal adversary, and calmed down overall with his own demands. He began to allow other members of the Tribe to speak up more often – women still weren't allowed in the meetings, but he was at least allowing Hakoda to speak for the Southern Tribe.

Zuko became more attentive and involved as well. Making suggestions, and speaking more than just when spoken to. He still listened intently and took everything into account before he would either agree or disagree with an opposing suggestion. But, Katara could see that he was beginning to earn the respect of the foreign leaders. Maybe even their trust.

Grateful as she was to be a part of the meetings, Katara did have to admit that she served little actual purpose being there. The issues being presented were often things that, while she found them profoundly interesting, she had no place giving an opinion on. Even Aang found that he didn't have much input most of the time. Having been gone for the last one hundred years, and therefore missing a lot of the carnage of the war, he couldn't speak much to the details of current politics, or offer many nuanced solutions. However, he still took his duties in the meetings very seriously, and was always the voice of reminder for everyone else. If ever things got off track, Aang was there to remind everyone that their purpose there was to restore balance. He played the peacekeeper extremely well.

He and Katara would often talk at night about how they wished they could contribute more. Aang especially would feel down at the end of the meetings, like he wasn't fulfilling his duties as the Avatar. But Katara couldn't disagree more. For so long the world was without the Avatar, and she knew that his presence alone was enough to make a difference here. The fact that these meetings were Avatar approved and sanctioned spoke volumes of their importance, and of the impact the decisions made here would have on the entire world. Just having him serve as a reminder that world balance was what they were all striving for was exactly what they all needed.

After a few days, King Kuei lifted the ban on inter-nation communications during the day, meaning everyone was allowed to each lunch together. Every day without fail, the entire group would find their way to the edges of the largest pond in the zen garden to enjoy their food together. Katara found herself gravitating toward Aang, even during those small breaks. When they didn't have official business to discuss, they were often joking around and poking fun at all the seriousness that was the "official business."

Everyone bonded together quickly through those short lunch periods, even the Fire Nation girls. Katara had already begun to see Mai, and even Ty Lee, opened up since being on the airship with them, but it was nice to see them become more comfortable around everyone else too. It was beginning to feel more and more like a home. Just for those few precious moments where they all surrounded the pond and laughed about the scandalized expression on King Kuei's face whenever Smellerbee suggested another ridiculous punishment.

Even watching Zuko and Mai together had gotten easier for Katara too. That hollow feeling in her stomach would still creep up occasionally, but it was much smaller than it was before. Most days she didn't even notice it at all – she found herself taking less notice of them entirely. She used to have to train her gaze to the ground when they were around, to avoid that sting in her veins when he would inevitably caress Mai's arm, or place his hand on her lower back. But as the days went on, she felt freer and freer, and now she could look at them both with ease.

A few times she could have sworn she saw Zuko staring at her from the corner of her eye, while she and Aang practiced some waterbending in the pond, or when she was laughing at one of Aang's ridiculous impressions. But whenever she turned to wave and say hello, he was always steadfastly focused on something else. It must have just been her eyes playing tricks on her.

There was something that had been playing at the back of Katara's mind too, but she outright refused to entertain the idea of it.

Every night they had been in the palace, Katara had come back to her common room to find two spark rocks neatly placed in the stone box just outside the door. She would pick them up, head inside and talk with the rest of her side of the political delegation for a few minutes before making some excuse to go to her room to change and then sneak out. The path to Zuko's window was well worn in its familiarity now, and there were no more awkward tumbles to get inside. But Katara couldn't help but notice that his wound was _significantly_ better. There was still a scar of course, and there always would be – but the muscle tissue was as good as she was ever going to get it to be. He really didn't need her healing abilities anymore. And yet, every evening, the spark rocks were there waiting for her, inviting her to come to his room.

One night, she dared to ask him about his pain level, wondering if she had missed some internal damage and he was just too proud to say outright that he needed more help. But he got all fidgety, and did that sheepish avoidance thing with his eyes and his words that he does whenever he's put on the spot. And then when she returned the next night, his wound was overly inflamed, as if he had been overexerting himself again with his firebending. As if he wanted to prove to her that his wound still needed her tending. But that couldn't be true, he wouldn't overexaggerate his discomfort. Because if he was, then that would mean… well, she didn't want to admit what she thought that could mean.

Other than her bothersome suspicions about whether or not she really needed to be there to heal him, things were going well between them. They spoke easily about the meetings, Katara often offering him advice on how to handle certain situations, and he felt comfortable to complain and vent to her about all of the pomp he had to adhere to just to be heard by all the foreign dignitaries. Their friendship began to fall into place easily.

When the meetings began to turn toward how exactly the Fire Nation could offer their services to the Southern Water Tribe, Katara used one of their healing sessions to finally tell him about Hama, and how she learned about bloodbending. His expression was overcome with both fear and awe, not unlike how he reacted when he saw her bloodbend himself all those weeks ago. But mostly, he was horrified at the circumstances that had led Hama to need to develop bloodbending in the first place. Yet another Fire Nation dirty secret.

Overcome with conviction, he made a vow to her right then and there that he would do everything in his power to make sure his country atoned for those wrongdoings. He suggested that she bring it up in the meeting the next day so that it could be made official, but he began drawing up paperwork immediately, of how exactly to go about rounding up all the former soldiers in that division. Katara's chest swelled with gratitude at his fierce display of dedication.

When the meeting did come around the next day, Katara explained the situation – how she came to know Hama and how she had been imprisoned. She left out the bit about the bloodbending – that was a conversation the world could hear at a different time. Even so, everyone in the room shifted uncomfortably in their seats. The Northern Tribesmen looked especially uncomfortable. Whether it was because they were hearing of the Southern Waterbenders mass imprisonment for the first time, or because they knew all along and never came to their aid, Katara wasn't sure. Either way, she kept her gaze trained straight ahead while she asked Fire Lord Zuko for some kind of retribution for her people.

Zuko nodded to her when she finished speaking, a knowing glint in his eye, while Aang reached up to give her hand a slight squeeze from where he was sitting to her right. Zuko's suggestion was for an investigation into all of the military personnel in the Fire Nation to determine who had a hand in all of the various atrocities that took place over the years. Those found guilty would be punished, but Zuko maintained that he didn't want to discipline violence with more violence, and instead suggested that those who contributed to the imprisonment of the waterbenders, would be the ones who tracked down any survivors, and would then live out their remaining days helping to rebuild the Southern Water Tribe.

He offered a similar plan to the Northern Water Tribes and the Earth Kingdom. He wouldn't pay the nations directly, but instead set in motion a system to help rebuild what had been lost. He would lead the investigation team for now, with Toph's help – she agreed almost immediately – until someone trustworthy could take over and he could oversee the operations as a whole. It would likely take years, but he was willing to put in the work. And more importantly, Arnook, Kuei, Bumi and General How, could all see his sincerity.

Finally, Zuko turned to Aang.

"Avatar Aang," Zuko said with regality as he bowed deeply.

Aang stood and met Zuko's eye, matching his bow.

A hush swept across the room.

"It goes without saying that my people, and my own ancestors have hurt you most of all. I am truly sorry for the immeasurable loss we have caused you," his voice cracked, "and as you are the last airbender, I would like to offer you anything and everything I can to help you restore what balance there is left to be found."

"Thank you, Zuko," Aang's face hardened, keeping steady with Zuko's gaze. "I am the last airbender. But, I am also the Avatar," his voice rang out with a maturity far beyond his years, "I am grateful that you are so willing to help ease the pain of your ancestor's actions, and that you will be my partner in bringing balance back to the Four Nations."

He paused, taking a deep breath.

"But I think it's my duty as the Avatar _and_ as the last airbender, to rebuild the Air Temples and search for more sky bison without your help. You should focus your efforts and supplies on those Nations where there are citizens who can benefit from your help."

Katara quickly wiped her face of the silent streams that had begun to flow down her cheeks. It could be so easy to forget just how much Aang had lost in this war as well.

Zuko held Aang's gaze a moment longer, before the corner of his mouth twitched ever so slightly into a smile. "I expected as much," he nodded, before he took his seat again between his Uncle and Mai.

Aang bowed toward Zuko one last time, a smile threatening his features as well. When he rose back to his full height, he turned to address each of the other three corners of the room.

"Does anyone else have anything to add?" he asked diplomatically.

He waited until each of the various leaders confirmed their satisfaction before he let his smile engulf his face in earnest.

"Then, I declare that the First Annual Hundred-Year War Peace conference, over!" He tutted the bottom of his staff into the ground twice in finality, and a round of polite applause broke through the room. Followed quickly, by the loud whoops and cheers of Smellerbee, Sokka, and Toph.

Katara stood and saw Aang looking at her with shining eyes. They both moved in unison to wrap the other up in a bone crushing hug, Katara no longer having to bend down to have her chin rest comfortably in the crook of his shoulder.

"I've decided," she said loud enough so that only he could hear her. "I've decided to come with you to search for sky bison and restore the Air Temples."

He pulled back from her, his arms still slung tight around her lower back. She wasn't sure how it was possible, but his eyes managed to shine even brighter than they had just a moment ago. He held her gaze like that a moment longer before pulling her back into the hug. The room quickly dissolving into more and more chaotic celebratory chants by the minute.

\- \/\ -

It was early afternoon when the meetings officially ended, and even though they were all technically free from all of their obligations, it still felt like they had to sneak away to meet up at the Jasmine Dragon.

Once they had all filed out of the map room, they quietly made their way back to their respective halls to change for their own celebration. They had each asked the various servants and guards to go into town for them during the week to pick up some more inconspicuous Earth Kingdom clothes for them to wear. Even though it was just going to be their group in the tea shop, it just sort of felt right to be unified under one color.

Katara slipped into her green wrap easily, and pinned back her hair with a flower she had plucked from a nearby planter earlier in the day. When she looked over herself in the mirror, she felt like a whole new person. She looked rested, no more bags under her eyes, and her shoulder straight and proud.

She met up with Toph and Aang in the common room to head out. Even Toph had managed to get a fancier outfit, while Aang opted for his new, more traditional Air Nomad robes. Smellerbee and Long Shot decided to head back to the lower districts instead of joining them – they were eager to get away from the opulent palace as soon as possible.

When they arrived at the Jasmine Dragon, everyone else was already there. Someone must have even gone to get Appa from where he had been staying in the Palace grounds. Sokka was helping Suki and Mai set up a pai sho table, while General Iroh was behind the counter, holding a large oddly shaped instrument, talking to Zuko and Ty Lee.

"Ty Lee, I don't want you back here! I know you're just trying to flirt with Lian!" Zuko yelled, gesturing to the young server who was in the back meekly washing dishes.

"I can flirt with whoever I want, thank you very much," Ty Lee retorted with a pout. "Besides, your hair is all floppy, and I don't see a crown – so you _doubly_ can't tell me what to do!" She stuck out her tongue and gave him a mischievous wink before she vaulted herself through the small opening that divided the area behind the ordering counter from the rest of the kitchen.

Lian let out a squeal of surprise as Ty Lee hooked her fingers through the strap of his apron and dragged him off somewhere where Katara could no longer see them.

Zuko groaned, dragging his hand down his face.

"Well nephew, looks like you'll be picking up dish duty as well this evening," Iroh said with a hearty chuckle. "I was hoping before you started serving the tea though, that you wouldn't mind playing some tsungi horn for us?" He held out the odd twisting instrument that he was still holding in his arms.

"For the last time Uncle! I don't want to play the tsungi horn!" Zuko barked back at him, throwing his hands up in the air as he went through the swinging door to the kitchen to start pouring cups of tea.

"Typical," Mai said, with the slightest air of fondness, from where she sat at the newly assembled pai sho table next to where Katara was standing.

"Yeah," Katara said with a sigh. "It sort of feels right though, doesn't it?"

Mai looked up to meet Katara's eyes, "yeah, I guess it does." It looked as if she was biting her cheek to keep herself from showing her smile.

With a knowing frown at his nephew's refusal, Iroh pulled the tsungi horn over his shoulders and made his way to the front of the tea shop and began to play. The tunes were sweet and almost melancholy, as if they were meant to match the feeling of the sun setting on the balcony just beyond the doors to the shop.

It was easy going. Toph commandeered a table all to herself, propping her feet up onto the table in her usual fashion. Mai and Suki started a pretty heated game of pai sho. Katara shouldn't have been surprised that both girls would be so competitive. Aang spent his time playing with Momo and occasionally looking up to just take in the serenity of the moment. Katara herself would wandering between each little group, offering – likely unhelpful – pai sho tips, or joining Aang in teasing Momo with some small waterbending.

Sokka, seemed to be the only one trying to get some sort of organization happening. He had started out on some sort of artistic project as soon as he had gotten done helping Suki and Mai set up the pai sho table, and been very secretive about it since then.

Zuko had just handed Katara her first cup of tea when Sokka finally spoke up.

"Zuko! Stop _moving_. I am _trying_ to capture the moment!" he ordered emphatically. "I wanted to do a painting, so we always remember the good times together."

"That's very thoughtful of you, Sokka," Katara said, making her way over to where he was sitting. Looking down at his actual drawing though, she frowned and her eyebrows shot straight up her forehead. "Wait. Why did you give me Momo's ears?"

Apparently, they were supposed to be her hair loopies. Although, she had to admit that she didn't have the worst drawing in Sokka's interpretation of them all. He had even drawn Suki firebending – that was just straight up wrong. Everyone had something to complain about. Katara was about to comment that Aang was the only one in the whole thing who looked even remotely like himself, when she looked up and saw that he wasn't there looking at the drawing with the rest of them.

Hoping he was okay, she followed him out onto the balcony.

Standing in the doorway, not yet making herself known, she looked at how the pink and purple sunset-tinted clouds stood against the yellow of his robes, and couldn't help but think about everything that they had been through together. She'd seen him like this before, contemplative as he looked out into the distance. And then, she'd always imagined how much the world must be weighing him down, the sheer amount of responsibility that sat alone on his shoulders. But even looking at just his back, she could see that weight had now been lifted. He looked taller, and prouder and more relieved that she had ever seen. It warmed her heart.

She wasn't sure exactly when she had made her decision to continue on and help him rebuild the Air Temples. This whole week had solidified their friendship and their partnership, and as the days went on, she just couldn't picture waking up in the coming months and not seeing Aang's silly, smiling face at breakfast. After everything in the past year, Aang had become her new home.

There were no more obstacles, and she was finally able to let hesitation slip away. Stepping forward she stood by his side to look out over the vast expanse of Ba Sing Se as it was coated with shimmering sunlight. Turning towards him, feeling her face match the pink dusting on his own cheeks, she pulled him for another hug.

The longer they held each other, the surer she became that this must be what she wanted. There was no use for what ifs anymore, who could have been or what might be later. Aang was here now with her. He was solid and real in her arms, and she felt good.

Pulling back from the hug, she met his eyes for a moment, and saw the same resolution in his eyes that she felt in her chest. Leaning in, all in one motion, she let her forearms slide down his shoulders so their chests were flush, and she locked her lips into his.

There were no fireworks, no flashing lights saying "congratulations Katara, you finally figured out how you feel!" And it wasn't anything like how those silly romance scrolls described big passionate moments. But it was nice. It felt warm, and sweet, and safe. With Iroh's sunset filled tsungi horn tunes playing smoothly through the air, the kiss was full of resolve, and peace.

\- \/\ -

They held hands sheepishly as they made their way back into the tea shop, blushes filling their cheeks.

"Ew, gross!" Sokka said, making a half-hearted gagging noise.

"Shut up, Sokka," Katara scolded, but she couldn't quite manage her usual fierce tone.

Toph whooped, "way to go Twinkle Toes!"

"Okay, yeah, yeah, congratulations and all," Sokka continued, "but seriously, can we keep the kissing displays to a minimum please?"

"Seriously, Sokka. Shut up," Katara said, her usual air of sisterly annoyance resurfacing now.

Sokka grumbled, while Suki came over to give Katara a one-armed hug and whisper a quiet "congratulations" as she squeezed.

Looking over Suki's shoulder Katara briefly caught Zuko's expression. His mouth was turned upwards slightly, but his eyes looked stony. Realizing she had seen him, he nodded to her with a half-hearted smile, and choked out a small "congratulations" as well, before looking away to clear his throat and drink a sip of tea.

Unwilling to let herself think about what Zuko's almost pained expression could mean, Katara instead focused on the warmth radiating from the connection of the hand that was still holding tightly onto hers. The hand that she had chosen to hold, and had returned the embrace without a second thought.

-/\/\/\/\/\/\\-

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you all so much for waiting so patiently, I know I've been uploading a lot slower than I was in the beginning, and I'm so grateful you're still reading :).**

 **Not gonna lie, I've been dreading this chapter a bit as it's going to be the most Kataang-y chapter of the whole fic - most likely. Personally, I'm not opposed to Kataang, but I know that they aren't what brought you here to this story lol. That being said, I wanted to make sure to try and stay as true to both them as possible, while keeping in line with the Katara we've been seeing so far and how she navigates her feelings for the both of them, without making an outright love triangle. I'm not a fan of love triangles tbh.**

 **I just want to make sure that it's clear this is still definitely a Zutara fic, and just because Katara and Aang just got together, doesn't mean that's going to be the story from here on out. I've been toying with the idea of a time jump after this chapter for a little while, and I'm pretty sure that's where things will be headed next - a little ways down the line. I'm pretty excited about how things are going to turn out actually, so I really hope you all bear with me as we get there, we aren't too too far off from the end now.**

 **Also, sorry this chapter is like kind of crazy long - I considered breaking it up into two chapters, but there wasn't much of an even breaking point, and besides I figured you'd all waited long enough, that I'd just give it to you all in one. It comes in at 15,671 words, making the whole story 137,144.**

 **As always, thank you so _so_ much for reading and reviewing/commenting, it means so much to me to know what you guys are or aren't enjoying lol.**


End file.
